Big day out for Haga

Yamaha riders hunt down Bayliss

Australian Ducati rider Troy Bayliss has seen his points lead in the world superbikes championship slide back thanks to a fall at the most recent round, though he still has a reasonable buffer. Perhaps of more concern for Aussie fans, is just how fast Haga is proving to be, which has enabled him to creep to just 10 points behind Yamaha-mounted Troy Corser.

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha -- pictured) had an outstanding raceday at Vallelunga, scoring a double win and promoting himself to third in the championship after two 24-lap races of full drama.

Troy Corser (Yamaha) also had a successful raceday, taking two podium finishes in third, and making up ground on long time points leader Troy Bayliss. The Ducati rider fell in race two, without injury, and in doing so scored no points, despite restarting.

Corser now has 290 points to Bayliss's 369, with Haga equal on points with Max Neukirchner, on 280. The overall result of the Vallelunga weekend is that each Yamaha rider is still capable of winning the championship, with four races and 100 points left.

Noriyuki Haga

"I could hear Biaggi's bike all the way but my bike was working very well and I am very happy with the result. In race two I had a very big fight with Troy Bayliss, and I am sorry for his crash. But I enjoyed our battle while it lasted. It was a great day today for our team and thanks to all the team and the fans for the reception. For sure we will be pushing hard at the next round, as we did at this one."

Troy Corser

"In race one I got a good start, pushed hard and the tyres were working well, so I felt comfortable. Then I had a bit of a moment when I lost a place to Checa. I went for second gear but hit a neutral and that lost me some time. I was lucky to stay on and I lost a lot of ground to the leaders. I got past Checa again and caught them but I could not get past the leaders. In race two we changed the bike a bit but I lost some time through the Esses. It was a shame for Troy crashing but it kept the championship alive for us."

Troy Bayliss

"Well of course we were hoping to take the title here today and so of course I'm disappointed. It was a great race and I lost, that's about all I can say. I gave it everything I had in the second race and was fighting to pass Haga. As I didn't know what was happening behind me, and so had no idea that Michel was about to pass Corser, I'd already decided in the closing stages, with six laps to go, that I was going to try and take Nori and either win or crash because I knew that me finishing second and Corser third wouldn't be enough to take the title and I really wanted to finish the job here today. I got close enough but then riding so close to the limit, it only took one tiny thing, either a little bit too much brake or too much lean, and I went down. It didn't end the way we had hoped but we move on, there are still two rounds to go and I have a good points advantage still."

Overall points

1	Troy Bayliss	369
2	Troy Corser	290
3	Norri Haga	280
4	Max Neukirchner	280
5	Carlos Checa	262
6	Max Biaggi	212
7	Fonsi Nieto	206
8	Michel Fabrizio	201
9	Ryuichi Kiyonari	193
10	Ruben Xaus	160
11	Yukio Kagayama	136

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Written byGuy Allen

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