The past rumors surrounding Noriyuki Haga’s switch to the British Superbike Championship and the latest, that he would be replacing injured Ian Hutchinson in Swan Yamaha have now been officially confirmed.

The Samurai of Slide failed to find a ride at World Superbike level after a lacklustre 2011 season with Pata Racing (despite finishing 8th with 4 podiums on the Aprilia RSV4), will now be joining reigning BSB champion Tommy Hill this season.

“It is a new challenge for me to race in BSB and I am now ready for the new season with Swan Yamaha,” said Haga. “I feel that after many years in the same series this will be a kind of restart to my racing career. BSB has grown a lot and I have big support from the fans in the UK, so I liked the idea of racing in the Championship. It will also be a return to Yamaha, where I spent so many years taking many wins and now I feel like I am going back to my family. I have won races with Yamaha before in the World Championship and now I hope that we can do it again in BSB. I don’t know several circuits in England and the BSB Championship but I will do my best to get results this year for the fans, myself and for Yamaha. We will start testing soon and I am very excited to get back on track as we have big ambitions for this season. Finally I hope that Ian Hutchinson can recover soon from his injury.”

Continue reading: Noriyuki Haga confirmed in BSB with Swan Yamaha

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Can anyone be as unlucky as Anthony West? The Australian rider lost his Speed Master MotoGP ride to Mattia Pasini when he couldn’t come up with the funding and now it looks like he’s lost another ride, but this time in British Superbikes to Noriyuki Haga.

Apparently West was on the verge of finding a ride in British Superbikes and it seemed he was to replace the recently injured Ian Hutchinson in Swan Yamaha, but rumors from the British press now have it that World Superbike drop out Haga-san could be taking up that vacancy.

Could this be why Haga, who is still updating his personal website has just recently changed the photo from his last ride on an Aprilia RSV4 to his old Yamaha R7?

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When Pata Racing announced that they had signed Lorenzo Zanetti for the upcoming Superbike season many fans were left wondering where Noriyuki Haga would be heading.

Persistant rumors put the Samurai of Slide in a new team put together by DFX Corse (Daniele Carli’s team who fused together with Marco Borciani’s BRC in 2011) and back riding a Ducati 1198 or even retiring, while the latest coming from Italy where Haga resides most of the year, has him in negotiations with a high profile British Superbike team.

Evidently something is moving as the popular Japanese rider is upgrading his personal website, as you can tell from the image above and with the opening round of the World Superbike championship just a little more than a month off we won’t have to wait that long to find out where Haga will be going.

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For the 2011 season DFX Corse and Pata BRC Racing fused together become Pata Racing Team and fielded Noriyuki Haga riding an Aprilia RSV4 and finished 8th overall in the championship with four podiums.

So far the Verona based team run by Marco Borciani has yet to announce their plans for 2012, but according to superbiketv.com the team will be dropping Aprilia to return to a Ducati 1098R and will once again field Nori Haga as their rider.

Always according to the Italian website, the legendary Davide Tardozzi who was axed from BMW Motorrad at the end of 2010 due to ‘irreconcilable differences’ could come out of his forced retirement to make a return to the World Superbike paddock and replace Borciani as team manager in Pata Racing in 2012.

So far these are only rumors and not have been confirmed by Pata Racing, but the first official 2012 testing date (February 20 and 21) is in a little more than two months so we expect to hear some news before then.

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Warm-up practice at Imola this morning saw Noriyuki Haga set the fastest lap with his Pata Aprilia with a best time of 1.48.242 followed by Tom Sykes who was just 0.137s adrift. Lap times were quite tight with 10 riders in less than a second from Haga, however track temperatures were slight lower this morning.

Jonathan Rea posted the third best time with BMW’s Leon Haslam close behind. Pole sitter Carlos Checa crashed trying to avoid a suddenly slow riding Matteo Baiocco, who suffered a technical glitch on his Ducati. Luckily the Spaniard did not suffer any apparent physical consequences, but his Althea Ducati did.

Effenbert Liberty riders Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli were 6th and 7th respectively, while Michel Fabrizio, Maxime Berger and Mark Aitchinson closed out the top ten.

Continue reading: WSBK Imola: Noriyuki Haga fastest in warm-up, Carlos Checa crashes

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After the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami that struck the north east of Japan last week, Noriyuki Haga sent this message to all his fans thanking them for their concern, as he was in his home country when nature decided to let loose in all its catastrophic anger.

Nitro Nori reassured everyone that he and his family were unhurt and also confirmed that the Kagayama and Fujiwara families were also spared from harm.

“First of all I would like to say thank you so much to everyone that has texted me and called me, concerned about my family and friends in Japan. I just wanted everyone to know how much it meant to me and I appreciate it very much! Thank you so much for all the kindness you show me. All my family (Yurie, Akito, Ryota and Kanon) are OK and our relatives who live in the suffering area are safe too.”

Continue reading: Noriyuki Haga: "Don't give up Japan, Don't give up Tohoku!"

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The final session of World Superbike testing at Portimao was literally a washout, with only seven riders willing to venture out on the wet Portuguese track, and Noriyuki Haga taking the afternoon session.

The Pata Aprilia rider actually bettered his lap times from the morning session, it wasn’t enough to overtake Ruben Xaus’ morning times, making the Castrol Honda rider the fastest of the day. Haga was followed by Yamaha’s Eugene Laverty and Supersonic’s rookie Maxime Berger.

In the three day test, with rain affecting two days out of three, the fastest rider overall was Jakub Smrz with his lap time of 1’43.503 on the first day of testing that put him ahead of Jonathan Rea who was consistent not only in dry, but also in the wet, as was Eugene Laverty.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao test Day 3: Noriyuki Haga in final session, Smrz fastest overall

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The guys over at Motoblog.it were able catch up with Noriyuki Haga after the Pata Racing Team Aprilia presentation at the Motor Bike Expo in Verona, and the Japanese rider kindly gave them a couple of minutes of his time to chat about his first impressions of the Aprilia RSV4, the work that he and his team will be doing.

Here’s a translation of the interview:

MB: What was your impression of the RSV4:

NH: “The Aprilia is a great bike, and I was immediately at ease in the saddle. The tests that we’ve already carried out haven’t allowed us to interpret all the numerous adjustments, and we still have so much to learn about this new bike. Next week (tomorrow) we’ll be testing at Portimao and we’ll have to do well to get a good start to the season.

Continue reading: A chat with Noriyuki Haga during the 2011 Motor Bike Expo

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Thanks to Motoblog.it we can show you the pics of Pata Racing Team Aprilia unveiling their 2011 racing livery that took place today at the Verona Motor Bike Expo.

The Italian team, which is fusion between BRC Racing and DFX Corse that fielded Jakub Smrz first on a Ducati, then from the Brno round switched to an Aprilia last season, will continue using an Aprilia RSV4R with Noriyuki Haga as their chosen rider.

Despite having a very disappointing and we can say a very strange 2010 season, NitroNori is still a fan favourite and we expect that the Japanese rider will come back stronger than ever with his new team, that supposedly will have technical backing straight from the Noale factory.

Haga and his team will be debuting the new livery in the upcoming official three day Superbike test in Portimao, that starts next Wednesday.

Continue reading: Pata Racing Team Aprilia unveils 2011 livery at Motor Bike Expo

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On writing our coverage of the WSBK Imola round we had said that Noriyuki Haga’s future for 2011 and beyond was uncertain but it had escaped our notice that in the last couple of days he has actually signed with team DFX-Borciani and will be riding an Aprilia next year. The team will be the new outfit of the current Team B&G of Marco Guendalini and Marco Borciani.

The new team will be officially supported by Aprilia and it will probably mark some rivalry between Max Biaggi and Haga who are not exactly friends as we understand. B&G won’t be signing Jakub Smrz next year as he will have his own full Czech team and will ride with a Ducati 1198RS again in 2011.

With Ducati pulling its SBK team continuing with a Ducati bike means either riding for a private team or going elsewhere and Nitronori will still find himself on an Italian bike, now the winner of the 2010 WSBK title. The official news of Haga in Aprilia will come after today’s SBK round as Aprilia was concentrating on Max Biaggi’s possible win. With that confirmed and the championship over apart from the remaining rounds, silly season should die down and we’ll be getting all the official news of riders and teams for next year.

Source | Motoblog.it

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The title of this post suggests that today’s race and the subsequent championship result for 2010 is simpler than it seems. Firstly, Carlos Checa continued his excellent form this weekend, winning Race 2 after a victory in Race 1 as well. He appeared on the podium in the number one spot with Noriyuki Haga in second place and Cal Crutchlow in third. It’s a nice result for Haga who will see out his career with Ducati this year, and with no concrete news about where he will go in 2011 when Ducati pulls out of the SBK.

Meanwhile, a third placing for Cal Crutchlow is a nice feather in his cap after his announcement that he will be moving to MotoGP next year to compete alongside Colin Edwards in the Yamaha Tech3 team. It proves his talent and his competitiveness in superbike which should be a boost in confidence for him when he moves to the very different world of MotoGP. Ducati finished up a great weekend at the WSBK Imola round, after taking all three spots on the podium in Race 1.

But the big news for Superbike and Italy is that Max Biaggi, despite a very modest performance this weekend, is the WSBK champion for 2010. He’s the first Italian to win the title and it’s also the first time that Aprilia has gained the championship win. Max Biaggi is already a champion in motorcycle circles, but he’s also known for his weaknesses and limits as well. So what we’ve seen today is not a victory for infallibility but a victory of hard work and belief in a team and its potential.

Continue reading: Max Biaggi is 2010 WSBK champion

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As we wait to see whether Max Biaggi can steal a win off the Race 1 winner Carlos Checa in Race 2 at Imola today, the local Italian crowd has had the pleasure of seeing Michele Pirro win in the Supersport class with his Hannspree Honda bike. He managed to steal the win from the usual protagonists Kenan Sofuoglu and Eugene Laverty who messed up at the end of the race and handed Pirro the win.

It’s a nice victory at Imola as the Italians say goodbye to the last Superbike Ducati race on home soil. Race 1 saw an amazing triple Ducati show on the podium with Carlos Checa in first place, followed by Lorenzo Lanzi and Noriyuki Haga. What a way to bring it home, with Imola providing an exciting spectacle and Ducati proving that it can still compete. Perhaps it might change some minds in the echelons of the company as to just how precious the superbike is to product development and image, Valentino Rossi or not.

Max Biaggi and Leon Haslam both made mistakes, with Haslam finishing fifth behind Jakub Smrz while sixth place went to Tom Sykes who had the race well wrapped up for most of it. But on to Max Biaggi - is it pressure or nerves? The extremely experienced rider stuffed-up more than once and in Race 1 has had to content himself with 11th position. That’s a big disappointment for Aprilia but Race 2 is underway and all will be revealed soon. The 52 points still held between Biaggi and Haslam have left Aprilia hoping for a party on home ground after the second race.

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