[the-duc-master]

hope haga gets the championship this year next race is going to be great

on the first race was relay close
Ben Spies 37'57.110

Noriyuki Haga 37'57.291

i want to see this race

 

[tye1138]

You posted the results without seeing the race!!! EEK, thats blasphemy! LOL

Ducati won the manufacturers title today (as predicted).

Haga is up 10 points on Ben Spies. This means, for him to win the title, he has to be on his best show.

During the press conference post race, Haga said the lads from Bologna were working on a solution to make the bike better on the long straight at Portmiao. He is hoping with that upgrade, they will be competitive. Otherwise, Ben Spies could literally "walk" away with the title. If Haga gets 2nd in both races, Spies will still win the title due to his race win factor. Haga literally has to do better then Ben in at least 1 of the two races to come.

Ben Spies blamed a "bad" front tire as his reasoning for the race two result. He went from a hard to a super hard between race 1 and 2, after narrowly beating Haga on a last lap show-down.

Race 1 is a screamer, brilliant race where Haga failed to get a good start due to a malfunction in his launch control (something new Ducati has been testing out). This is what put him further back in the pack, he also broke the lap record during the race after having one hell of a time behind Biaggi.

Race 2 is pretty boring, Haga lead from lap 2 and that was pretty much the end of that... Biaggi tried to keep up. Rey had some issues with his rear tire (later determined over-use) and had to settle for 3rd. Of course, as said above, Spies wasn't in the best of shape either...

All in all, it was a solid weekend for Ducati in both WSBK and MotoGP.

 

[Pilota_Scuro]

Haga is up 10 points on Ben Spies. This means, for him to win the title, he has to be on his best show.

Haga really needs to on his best form as well. Spies only needs to tie Haga's points to win the title since he has more race wins(13 for Spies vs 8 for Haga).

 

[whippersnapper]

Noriyuki Haga showed he could attack for the championship lead as well as defend it by taking a 2nd place and a win in the French round of the World Superbike Championship at Magny Cours today. Haga narrowly missed the double after spending too long behind double podium finisher Max Biaggi on the fast Aprilia in the first race but led the second race almost flag to flag. Details here.

 

[DucmanST3]

To all you tools that got to see the race hope you had fun.
I had set the PVR but the power went out for about 10 minutes which wiped out the settings aaaaaaaarrgggghhhhhhhhhhh. Wicked result. Perhaps Ducati will put out another cup and I can get my truck crashed all over again, but that, as they say, is another story.

 

[samurai41]

Nothing else to say.....

 

[ZDM]

I really thought Haga would dominate today. The last time he rode a Ducati there was in 2005? sponsored by Airwaves? he dominated both races I believe, but Toseland won the title. He's quick here and this track is definately suited to him and the 1198R.....unfortunately he didn't win both, which makes it a pressure packed last race.
Still, I believe Ducati has more than the Yamaha, and Corse found it over the holiday. If Haga would have(could have, should have) disposed of the #3 earlier in Race 1 he would have caught Spies and won, no doubt.
Sure makes for an exciting last race this way!

 

[tye1138]

Few tidbits...

Haga made it very clear in the post race interview, the boys from Bologna had something up their sleeves for the final race. He felt the Ducati would get destroyed on the main straight in its current configuration.

Portimao is going to be a tough track. It requires LOTS of power, its got hills and such. Yamaha has had issues with fuel consumption all season (one reason Spies didn't do well in the final Italian race). So its up to Ducati and I prey they can get something together for the final race. Fabrizio was on the podium last season, so its gonna be a Haga/Fabrizio tag-team since Fabrizio is now out of the points. Haga also said, he doesn't want any help, but I can't see Fabrizio walking away with anything. All Haga has to do is win the first race and its pretty much over.

3 weeks!!! Man, I'm not gonna get any sleep! LOL

 

[DucmanST3]

Few tidbits...

Haga made it very clear in the post race interview, the boys from Bologna had something up their sleeves for the final race. He felt the Ducati would get destroyed on the main straight in its current configuration.

Tardozzi has said the bike is developed to it's limit so pulling more hp out now will be a good trick...........bet Biaggi would love to play the spoiler or Johnny Rea...will be a good race.

 

[mduc]

Race 1 was just awesome, I nearly feel of the seat on that last lap

 

[kingsnake1650]

Tardozzi has said the bike is developed to it's limit so pulling more hp out now will be a good trick...........bet Biaggi would love to play the spoiler or Johnny Rea...will be a good race.

Could be some trickery going on by Tardozzi... Or it could be Haga begging for more power knowing what is going to happen next round.
Race 1 was awesome... Spies really let Haga stay in it, he just couldnt seem to pull the pin
Race 2 not so good. I really dont understand why teams that are in the hunt and have to have a result gamble on tire choice?? If Spies tire had come on Im sure he could have won the race or atleast reclaimed 2nd, but when it didnt he started dropping like a rock. If he had run the same tire as in race one I think Haga still would have won but Spies would have been in the fight for 2nd.
Then again I guess it wouldnt have matter because even if Spies had finished 2nd he would still have to pull the double next round to win the championship.
He shouldnt be to worried though Haga still has time to blow another one
I say Spies only wins 1 of the next 2 races and still get the championship

 

[tye1138]

Could be some trickery going on by Tardozzi... Or it could be Haga begging for more power knowing what is going to happen next round.

I say Spies only wins 1 of the next 2 races and still get the championship

Yea, I think the bike can be tuned differently to put out more top end for that long straight. Wether or not they add parts from Bologna or not, thats what Haga wants. Portimao is a tough track for Haga, he did poorly last year. But Bayliss and Fabrizio did very well, so the Ducati does go well their.

We've got 3 solid weeks of speculation before free practice and finally seeing what Spies and Haga can do at the track. I'm guessing Spies will have no problem at the track and Haga will be lagging. I think the races will tie the championship, but Ben will get the trophy for having the most wins as the (tie breaker). If only Haga had those 5 points Fabrizio stole from him...

 

[crashman]

If only Haga had those 5 points Fabrizio stole from him...

You mean when Fabrizio won due to the fact that he was faster?
Team orders are bullshit and dont belong in racing.

 

[MongoWERA]

Stole? So Ben and Haga have been stealing all of those other points form the rest of the field all season?

 

[Matt_P]

Haga himself pulled the "this is racing" line, and said that he doesn't need any help.

If Haga doesn't miss those 5 points then I don't either.

Fabrizio really is a shit teamate though. I wish he would get a handlebar up the ass like poor old John Hopkins did back in the day (I don't know who has the worst luck between Hopper and McCoy lol)...

 

[Matt_P]

PS, for next race I say neither Haga nor Spies get the wins and it'll boil down to who salvages the most points.

I say Fabrizi-hole and Biatchi share the wins. Why Fabrizio? Because Spies will get away and Fabrizio will be in a position to prevent him from getting the double.

And yes, Haga might have sucked at Portimao last year, but don't forget Yamaha-Italia will be starting the weekend with his crappy old data this time around, and Haga will be on the Duc which did quite well last year.

 

[AZ_Scott]

And yes, Haga might have sucked at Portimao last year, but don't forget Yamaha-Italia will be starting the weekend with his crappy old data this time around, and Haga will be on the Duc which did quite well last year.

But also don't forget that Spies tested the new (current) R1 at Portimao after last year's race, and in almost stock form he went extremely fast on it.

As for the 5 points? Pssh. What about the 25 points that Fabrizio "stole" from Spies when he torpedoed him at Brno? Or any of a number of race-changing incidents that happened all year?

That's why they have the races. It all counts, all year long. If Haga ends up losing, you can't say it was just because Fabio beat him that time. That's ridiculous.

I'm fine with how things have turned out. It's basically "winner take all" in the last round. How can you not like that!

As long as Fabrizio and Rea - the human SCUD missiles - behave, things should work out alright...

 

[WRKNMN]

School will be in session next year for the Texas turd, I'm sure he is already writing a list of excuses!!!!!!

 

[kingsnake1650]

School will be in session next year for the Texas turd, I'm sure he is already writing a list of excuses!!!!!!

Really?? he has won 13 races his rookie season in WSBK not to mention all the superpoles. Do you really think he's gonna make excuses IF he falls short of the title?
And on that note hasnt Haga already started his list of excuses with his comment about the Ducati need more power on the straight?

Also Im not saying Ben is going to run with the Fab 4 (Lorenzo, Pedrosa,Stoner, and Rossi) but Im sure he will be on thier heals at the very least.