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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They don’t call the British Superbike showdown for nothing, and it became a final showdown between Tommy Hill and John Hopkins in yesterday’s final round of the season in the triple header at Brands Hatch, where Swan Yamaha’s Tommy Hill became the new British Superbike champion by 0.006s and two points.

In Saturday’s Race 1 it was Michael Laverty standing tall in first place and taking his third win of the season, while Josh Brookes took second and John Hopkins edged out his closest rival for the title in a stunning duel to the finish line to take third.

With his third place in race 1 Hopkins was still leading in the championship standings going into race 2 on Sunday. The race was won by a dominating Shane Byrne, while Hill grabbed fourth, as Hopkins suffered some sort of technical glitch on lap 1. The Anglo American rider managed to overcome the problem, but he was already behind the field, but the race had high attrition, he managed to fight back to take 12th.

Going into race 3, Hopkins had dropped 9 points in the standings lead and was leading only by two. Shane Byrne again won the race, but it became a dog fight between Hill and Hopkins in the final lap, that produced one of the best races of the season which would see the two cross over the finish line side by side, only for Hill to win the title in a photo finish by 0.006s.

Race 1 and Race 2 highlight videos, with quotes from Hill and Hopkins and final championship standings after the jump.

Continue reading: Tommy Hill is the 2011 British Superbike champion by 0.006s (w/videos)

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