The following is from Yamaha…
Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) approach the seventh round of the 2008 World Superbike Championship, at the Nürburgring in Germany this coming weekend, safe in the knowledge that they are as experienced at this circuit as almost any of their peers. Both Yamaha factory riders have raced on the 1998 and 1999 versions of the circuit, located in the Eifel Mountains close to the Belgian border, and will have little difficulty remembering the majority of the layout.
After an action-packed WSB round in the USA, Haga has had to show grit and determination to participate in the German round. His nasty collarbone fracture, plated and pinned in California last week, did not stop Haga competing and scoring ten more points than championship leader Troy Bayliss. Haga, now sporting a steel plate and eight screws in his right collarbone, will be out to score as many points as possible in Germany without taking undue risks that may cause further complications to his injury. Remarkably, Haga’s fracture was his first significant injury since taking up racing, almost 30 years ago!
A rejuvenated Corser had a one-up and one-down experience in America, securing a close second place and a crash when pushing for another podium finish, he approaches the Nürburgring race safe in the knowledge that he won the last SBK race held at this track, in 1999.
The circuit has been altered somewhat since Haga and Corser battled it out in 1998 and 1999 (When Haga rode for Yamaha and Corser Ducati) with the first corner now a hairpin, followed by a stadium-style complex of corners, before the riders head back out to a more familiar full circuit layout.
Haga is ready for another challenging weekend, as he goes for win number three of the 2008 season. “We got back from America on the Tuesday evening after my operation from Doctor Ting in San Francisco. I was in so much pain right afterwards but day-by-day the pain has got less and less. I went to the hospital in Italy for checks and it all seems OK. I expect to approach the German round pretty much like any other race, and score good points, even though I need to be a little careful. All of this is a new experience for me anyway. It is the first time I have broken a bone in 29 years of racing! As for the track, I remember some of it, but everybody will be finding their way around and I am a quick learner. I am not worried about the track or anything else this weekend.”
Corser is looking for his first win of the year and his return to podium status at Miller has buoyed him with confidence to get the job done in Germany. “I have been there before and a lot of guys haven’t but it’s been changed a bit anyway. As I remember, it’s a bit like Brno, lots of straights and then up and downhill corners. We found a good setting with the chassis when we went to America, and I hope that we can get the same grip from the track surface that allowed us to use our bike the way we wanted to in Germany as well.”
Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Team YZF) scored in neither American round, but is ready to step up to improve once again, with Yamaha GMT94 regulars Sebastien Gimbert and David Checa also in the same situation, albeit in 23rd and 24th places in the overall standings.
Technically speaking – The Nürburgring according to Massimo Meregalli (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team – Team Manager)
“The layout of the Nürburgring seems OK for our bike and to be honest it will be almost a new track because we were there quite a few years ago now. At the moment we have no real data covering the circuit. We will work the same way we did in Miller to find the best possible set-up in the shortest space of time.” “I think that Troy really can repeat his Miller performance again in Germany. Last time Troy raced here he won and he can take a lot from that. For Noriyuki, it depends on the scale of his recovery from injury. What he did in Miller was unbelievable, and after the operation he should be even better. We should hopefully have good results again.” “Considering that the doctors in America felt Nori wouldn’t be able to race at all, anything is possible here in Germany”
“It took some time for the bikes to come back from America, but there will be some updates and adjustments for Germany. We always put the bikes on the dynos in the workshop to check everything is OK after each race and we took that opportunity to adjust the engine mapping for Germany.”
The following is from Honda…
After Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) won two races at the American circuit of Miller Motorsports Park in the previous round, all of Honda’s supported riders in the World Superbike class have arrived in Germany in confident mood.
Checa’s first two WSB race wins were also the first for the 2008-specification Honda CBR1000RR, a machine which still has untapped potential to be exploited on the racetrack. With championship leader Troy Bayliss failing to score in the past three individual races, the championship fight is very much back on again with Checa, in second place, the best placed competitor to reduce the points gap again this weekend. Currently, Bayliss has 194 points and Checa 166, a differential of only 28.
The Nürburgring was last used for World Superbike and Supersport races in 1999, but there are several changes in its layout for this year’s event, making it almost another new circuit for the WSB riders to deal with. At 5.137km long, it is one of the longest tracks on the championship calendar. On completion of the races on Sunday the halfway point of the 14-round/28-race season will have been reached.
Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) is another Honda podium finisher in 2008, having almost won a race at Monza in May. He sits 10th overall at present, in what is his rookie year of competition at this level, despite having raced in a great variety of other categories and classes for a 25-year-old.
Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR Jr) is also a rookie in WSB, but he at least has more recent experience of the Nürburgring than most others, as he was a German Championship regular before moving to European Superstock and World Supersport full time a few years ago, finally winning the World Supersport Championship in 2007, for his current WSB team. After six rounds Sofuoglu is 16th overall, on 32 points.
Roberto Rolfo (Hannspree Althea Honda CBR1000RR) has had to overcome recent injury to compete again in World Superbike. In Miller last time out he was still struggling to ride at anything like full pace due to his troublesome shoulder injury.
He hopes that two-weeks of physiotherapy and rest will be enough to allow him to compete at a high level once again, and improve his overall ranking from his current 19th.
In recent races Kiyonari has taken over the second-best Honda rider mantle from Spanish rider Gregorio Lavilla (Vent Axia VK Honda CBR1000RR) although Lavilla is still the only rider to have scored points in every race so far.
Karl Muggeridge (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR) has, on occasions, shown the pace everyone in World Superbike knows he has so far this year, as his private team makes gradual progress with the set-up of their machine and electronics package. Muggeridge is out to improve on his best individual race finish so far in 2008 of sixth, which he has posted on two occasions, as his team-mate Russell Holland (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR), in his rookie WSB season hopes for more points from the two races.
Despite bad luck in the races at Miller, the Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR team has made real progress in company with lead rider Shuhei Aoyama. The former 250GP rider has found qualifying speed in the past two events, at Monza and Miller, and hopes to translate that into another Superpole start, and then two strong points scores on raceday. American rider Jason Pridmore will join him once again. Pridmore has new been drafted into the team to help their overall development program.
In the run up to the Nürburgring races Checa, stated: “It was a fantastic moment to be on top of the podium again in Salt Lake City last week. The bike felt good and the tyres were working well for us. I hope we can continue working the same way for the German round and stay in front to fight for more victories.”
Kiyonari said: “I hope to improve and not make any mistakes. I had a few issues in practice in America and worked hard with my team to improve and run good race pace. Unfortunately I made some mistakes in the early laps and didn’t get as far up front as I would have liked to. I’ll try and ride a more consistent race at the Nürburgring and hope to achieve good results.”
Sofuoglu said: “I am looking forward to racing in Germany this weekend. I started racing in Germany years ago and know the Nürburgring well, even though it has been four years since I last raced there. There will be a lot of my friends there to support me.”
Rolfo stated: “Only a few days ago I discovered another fracture to my shoulder blade, one that was not revealed by the previous medical report. Luckily I don’t need an operation and I’m following the Clinica Mobile’s treatment in order to be able to race in Germany and take full advantage of the power of my Honda. I want to enter Superpole and fight for the podiums.”
Muggeridge said: “We showed we could have had two good results in America and I want to be able to put in two strong rides per meeting from now on. The Nürburgring should be pretty even for everyone so I’m looking forward to racing there, and it’s not too far from my home in Switzerland either.”
Aoyama said: “We improved in America and until raceday it was going well. I have not seen the Nürburgring. Well, only on TV! But if we continue to improve I hope to get into Superpole again. That was a big positive step for us in America, and it has given everyone in the team real confidence.”
Pridmore said: “I have never raced at the Nürburgring but hopefully we could have an updated motor for that race. In America we made the bike better for race two and I have found that the bike is quite sensitive to small changes and that was the mistake we made getting ready for race one.”
