International motorcycle racing heats up

Larry Tate

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

It's always misleading to make generalizations, of course, but it's a pretty common perception in this part of the world that Japanese tend to be quiet, self-effacing, behind-the-scenes people.

But World Superbike racer Noriyuki Haga would certainly blow that generalization out of the water.

The 33-year-old ace has mellowed some, now married with one child and living in Italy much of the year, but when he gets on his factory Yamaha superbike for a World Superbike event, he's still the Wild Child of the Far East to watch – he's absolutely spectacular in what he can get away with on a motorcycle.

Even when he doesn't get away with it, the results are amazing. During the June 1 race at Miller Motorsport Park in Utah, for example, he crashed in practice and broke his right collarbone. End of weekend, right? Wrong.

Haga-san entered the first race and crashed again ("No problem with the collarbone – I fell on the left side!"), then took an amazing sixth place in the second race. And you think you're tough?

Two weeks later, last weekend, he gave his tough-guy image yet another boost by winning both races at the German event, held at the famed Nurburgring track.

Despite Haga's double win, at the halfway point in the WSB series (seven of 14 rounds complete), Troy Bayliss and his Xerox Ducati still hold a relatively safe lead in the championship from Carlos Checa and Max Neukirchner. However, Haga's win for the Yamaha Motor Italia team and racing partner Troy Corser showed their recent form was no fluke, as they both climbed up the ladder to within striking distance.

In the first race, Haga had a hard fight with Bayliss, taking the lead just at the end when the Aussie star made a small error, while Corser took fourth.

In race two, teammates Haga and Corser were in a class of their own, swapping positions on almost every lap. The race was red-flagged and called complete at three-quarters distance when rain moved in, and Corser was ahead at the time, but scoring, of course, reverted to the last complete lap and Haga was credited the win.

After the day's racing, he said, "Ten days ago I was a disaster and I am very happy for this win, just 14 days after breaking my collarbone." Neukirchner (the revelation of 2008 with his new team) took the last podium spot in both races, while Checa, closest challenger to Bayliss at this point in the championship, got a pair of fifths, definitely not what he was expecting after his dominating double win at Miller in the U.S. two weeks ago.

The next race is June 29 at Misano, in Italy.

Upcoming talent

Probably the most encouraging international racing from a Canadian perspective recently has been in the Red Bull AMA U.S. Rookies Cup Series.

At Road America near Milwaukee June 8, in support of the U.S. Superbike series championship, Emerson Connor of Burlington, the only Canadian in the 23-rider field, finished a strong third, moving him up into seventh overall in the series. The Red Bull Cup uses identical KTM 125 cc GP bikes and is designed as a development and feeder series for young talent.

Connor, who's still a few years from being old enough to shave, yet alone drink the victory champagne, charged to third and got stronger as the race continued. He put a gap of nearly eight seconds on fourth place in the closing laps.

"It was just late braking and trying not to make any mistakes," said Connor of his best finish of the year.

"I'm really happy with how I did today. I didn't score points at Barber and this makes up for it."

MotoGP

Valentino Rossi didn't win the last MotoGP race at Catalunya in Spain, but from the celebrations in the pits afterwards from the team, Yamaha, and the Bridgestone tire group, you might have been excused for thinking he had.

A relatively poor qualifying and a (normally) bad start left the resurgent multi-time champ behind the 8-ball, but a spectacular mid-race charge saw him swapping positions and paint with defending world champ Casey Stoner on his Ducati in a thrilling race to the line, albeit for second place.

The victory was never in doubt, as Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa got the hole shot and simply disappeared into the distance. He was ahead by as much as eight seconds, then relaxed a bit and let Rossi and Stoner within three seconds at the end.

It was a dominating performance, putting Pedrosa within five points of Rossi for the 2008 title.

The third-place rider overall, Pedrosa's Spanish countryman and chief rival Jorge Lorenzo, skipped the race after a bad practice accident.

Even ironman Lorenzo (who's been riding with broken bones in both ankles) couldn't handle the pain of skin grafts to his hand and back injuries in addition to his existing injuries and was sent to bed for the week by the doctors.

The 2006 champion, Nicky Hayden, was dispirited after a great qualifying effort put him on the front row; he's having a tough year making the Honda work for him.

"Something in the set-up is hurting tire life, it's quite frustrating. We were in there early and thought we might be on for a good result and then we lost touch and went backward. The rear brake went out towards the end, which didn't help things."

The next race is at Donington in the U.K. this weekend.

Larry Tate covers motorcycle racing for Wheels. He can be reached at larryt@primus.ca

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