Noriyuki Haga

Noriyuki Haga
Noriyuki Haga
Nationality	Japanese
Born	March 2, 1975 (1975-03-02) (age 36) Nagoya, Japan
Current team	PATA Racing Team Aprilia
Bike number	41
Website	nki41.com

Noriyuki Haga (芳賀紀行) (born 2 March 1975 in Nagoya, Japan), is a Japanese professional motorcycle racer. Haga has been runner-up in the Superbike World Championship three times, and has finished 3rd in the series four times.
In 2009 and 2010, Noriyuki raced for Ducati Xerox Team alongside Michel Fabrizio on the new Ducati 1198 in the Superbike World Championship. For the 2011 Superbike World Championship Noriyuki Haga joined the PATA RACING TEAM APRILIA (Satellite Team) as a solo rider on the Aprillia RSV4 Factory bike He is also known as Nori-Chan, Nori, Nitro Nori, Iron Nori, and Haga-san.

Career

Early Days

Haga started his racing career by competing in the Japanese Superbike Championship in 1993, riding a Ducati bike. He then moved to Yamaha in 1995, and won the championship with Yamaha in 1997. During his stint with Yamaha in Japanese Superbike, Haga was chosen to represent Yamaha in the 1996 Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race. He teamed up with Yamaha's World Superbike rider Colin Edwards and won the race.

World Superbike

Before Haga began racing full-time in World Superbike Championship in 1998, he already began racing occasionally in WSBK since 1994. In 1996, Haga received a wild card entry to race in Japanese round of WSBK at Sugo. He surprisingly finished on second place in Race 1, collecting his first ever podium in WSBK on his first attempt. However, he failed to finish in Race 2. In 1997, while still racing in his home championship, he was given another chance to race in WSBK. He was chosen to replace the injured Colin Edwards for the last two races of the season in Sugo, Japan and Sentul, Indonesia. He performed well on both rounds, collecting his first win in WSBK along with 2 more podiums.

In 1998, Haga began racing WSBK full-time. He also started adopting the number 41 that he has used ever since. Haga joined Yamaha's Superbike team, replacing Colin Edwards who has moved to Honda. He started the season brilliantly by winning 3 of the first 4 races. Unfortunately, his performance declined and he was subsequently out from championship contention. He won another two races in the season and finished 6th in the championship standing. During the year, Haga also received a wild-card entry to 500cc Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Haga scored an unexpected third place podium in his 500cc debut. This podium went on to be his only podium in his brief 500cc/MotoGP career.

The following season, Haga finished 7th in championship standing. He only managed to 1 race win and 1 third-place finish on the new Yamaha YZF-R7. As a result, another Japanese rider, Akira Yanagawa finished 5th above Haga. This marks the only time Haga was not the highest placed Japanese Rider in every seasons he competed in WSBK.

Haga improved his performance to challenge for the title in 2000. However, his season was disrupted when he was tested positive for a banned substance. Haga was tested positive for the substance Ephedrine after the race in South Africa, which was later learned that Ephedrine occurs naturally in the herbs used in the Ma Huang supplement that he took during the off-season. He initially received a one-month ban beginning on June 5 and had his points from both South Africa race deducted.^[1] However after series of appeals, the points from Race 1 in South Africa were reinstated and the ban was delayed and reduced to 2-week ban, resulting in Haga missing the final round in Brands Hatch, Great Britain. With Haga losing 25 points and sitting out a 2-race weekend, Colin Edwards comfortably won the 2000 championship.^[2]

Brief stint in 500cc/MotoGP

After an eventful year, Haga left WSBK and joined 500cc World Championship for 2001 season. Haga initially did not want to join the 500cc Championship as he wanted another chance to challenge for WSBK crown. However, Yamaha already announced that they were withdrawing from WSBK and focus on the challenge to win the 500cc Championship.^[3] Haga subsequently joined the factory-backed Red Bull Yamaha WCM team, riding the Yamaha YZR500. Haga failed to adapt with the new bike and had a disappointing season, having failed to reach podium all year. He finished fourteenth in the championships.

He then returned to WSBK in 2002. He joined a one-bike Aprilia team, riding an Aprilia RSV 1000 bike. He had several podium finishes but failed to record a race win. He finished 4th in overall standing, before moving back to MotoGP in the following season. He was joined by his former teammate Colin Edwards to spearhead Aprilia's MotoGP campaign, riding the newly-developed Aprilia RS3 Cube. Both Haga and Edwards endured another disappointing season with the RS Cube performed poorly. Haga once again finished fourteenth in the championships without any podiums.

Return to World Superbike

After another failed attempt in MotoGP, Haga returned to WSBK in 2004. He joined Renegade Ducati Koji team and was in contention for the championship until the final round, despite several reliability failures.

For 2005 Haga joined Yamaha Motor Italia, Yamaha's factory supported team. He finished third in the championship and became the first rider to win a dry weather race having failed to lap fast enough to qualify for 'Superpole'.

In 2006, he was again Yamaha's leading man. After 7 rounds he was 2nd in the championship to Troy Bayliss, without having won a race. At round 7 in Brno he took pole, but finished third and fourth in the two races, having been passed by Michel Fabrizio on the last lap of both. At round 8 in the UK, he took his first win of the year. At Round 9 at Lausitzring in Germany Nori picked up two second places after battling for the win in both races; the first race was won by his good friend Yukio Kagayama of Alstare Corona Suzuki and the second by Britain's James Toseland of Winston Ten Kate Honda, who had been his main rival for 2nd place in the year's championship. For the third season in a row, Haga came third.

Troy Corser joined the Yamaha team for 2007, and together they brought Yamaha the manufacturer's championship. Haga finished 2nd in the riders championship, 2 points behind Toseland after a double win in the final round at Magny-Cours was not quite enough.

He continued to ride for Yamaha in 2008. Haga won seven races during the season, with wins at Valencia, Monza and Magny-Cours, as well as doubles at the Nurburgring and Vallelunga. However this was only good enough for 3rd in the final standings behind (the winless) Corser and Xerox Ducati's title winner, Troy Bayliss.

In 2009, he joined factory-backed Ducati Xerox Team to replace the retiring Bayliss, winning his first race at Phillip Island, and taking an early championship lead. However, a severe high-side crash during Race 2 in Round 9 at Donington Park put his pursuit of the 2009 championship in doubt.^[4] With Haga out of the second race of the round, Ben Spies took victory and reduced Haga's points lead to 14.

Career summary

• Superbike career
  • 1996: 22nd in World Superbike Championship with Yamaha (2 race as wild-card, 1 podium)
  • 1997: 13th in World Superbike Championship with Yamaha (4 race as replacement rider, 1 win, 3 podiums, 72 points)
  • 1998: 6th in World Superbike Championship with Yamaha WSBK Team (5 wins, 7 podiums, 258 points)
  • 1999: 7th in World Superbike Championship with Yamaha WSBK Team (1 win, 2 podiums, 196 points)
  • 2000: 2nd in World Superbike Championship with Yamaha WSBK Team (4 wins, 11 podiums, 334 points)
  • 2002: 4th in World Superbike Championship with PlayStation 2-FGF Aprilia (7 podiums, 278 points)
  • 2004: 3rd in World Superbike Championship with Renegade Ducati Koji (6 wins, 9 podiums, 299 points)
  • 2005: 3rd in World Superbike Championship with Yamaha Motor Italia WSB (2 wins, 10 podiums, 271 points)
  • 2006: 3rd in World Superbike Championship with Yamaha Motor Italia WSB (1 win, 11 podiums, 326 points)
  • 2007: 2nd in World Superbike Championship with Yamaha Motor Italia WSB (6 wins, 15 podiums, 413 points)
  • 2008: 3rd in World Superbike Championship with Yamaha Motor Italia WSB (7 wins, 11 podiums, 327 points)
  • 2009: 2nd in World Superbike Championship with Ducati Xerox Team (8 wins, 19 podiums, 456 points)
  • 2010: 6th in World Superbike Championship with Ducati Xerox Team (2 wins, 6 podiums, 258 points)

• 500cc/MotoGP career
  • 1998: 20th in 500cc World Championship with Yamaha Racing Team (1 race as wild-card, 1 podium, 16 points)
  • 2001: 14th in 500cc World Championship with Red Bull Yamaha WCM (15 race, 59 points)
  • 2003: 14th in MotoGP World Championship with Alice Aprilia Racing (16 race, 47 points)

• Others
  • 1996: Won Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race with Yamaha (with Colin Edwards)
  • 1997: Won Japanese Superbike Championship with Yamaha

Year	Series		Poles	Races	Podiums	Wins	2nd place	3rd place	Fast Laps	Titles
All Time	World Superbike (SBK)		7	286	110	43	38	29	55	0

World Superbike Championship

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Make	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		14		Pos	Pts	Ref
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
2000	Yamaha	RSA 2	RSA DSQ	AUS 10	AUS 2	JPN 2	JPN 4	GBR 4	GBR 4	ITA Ret	ITA 5	GER 3	GER 1	SMR 7	SMR Ret	SPA 3	SPA 1	USA 1	USA 2	GBR 5	GBR 4	NED 3	NED 1	GER 9	GER 5	GBR	GBR			2nd	335
2002	Aprilia	SPA 2	SPA 2	AUS Ret	AUS 6	RSA Ret	RSA 6	JPN 3	JPN 5	ITA Ret	ITA 3	GBR 2	GBR 10	GER 4	GER 5	SMR 4	SMR 3	USA Ret	USA Ret	GBR 4	GBR 5	GER 7	GER 4	NED 3	NED 6	ITA 5	ITA 4			4th	278
2004	Ducati	SPA Ret	SPA 1	AUS 8	AUS 6	SMR 4	SMR 4	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	GER 1	GER Ret	GBR 1	GBR 2	USA 6	USA 4	GBR 1	GBR 1	NED 4	NED 3	ITA 4	ITA Ret	FRA 2	FRA 1							3rd	299
2005	Yamaha	QAT 5	QAT 11	AUS Ret	AUS Ret	SPA 5	SPA 4	ITA 11	ITA 9	EUR Ret	EUR 3	SMR 6	SMR 6	CZE 7	CZE 1	GBR 2	GBR 1	NED 3	NED 2	GER 2	GER 3	ITA 3	ITA C	FRA Ret	FRA 3					3rd	271
2006	Yamaha	QAT Ret	QAT 3	AUS 4	AUS 4	SPA 5	SPA 5	ITA 4	ITA 3	EUR 2	EUR 2	SMR 5	SMR 3	CZE 4	CZE 3	GBR 3	GBR 1	NED Ret	NED Ret	GER 2	GER 2	ITA 4	ITA 6	FRA 2	FRA 4					3rd	326
2007	Yamaha	QAT 8	QAT 4	AUS 4	AUS 3	EUR 4	EUR 1	SPA 2	SPA 3	NED 2	NED Ret	ITA 1	ITA 1	GBR 2	GBR C	SMR Ret	SMR 2	CZE 4	CZE 4	GBR 7	GBR 2	GER 1	GER 2	ITA 4	ITA 3	FRA 1	FRA 1			2nd	413
2008	Yamaha	QAT 14	QAT 13	AUS 8	AUS 7	SPA Ret	SPA 1	NED Ret	NED 2	ITA 2	ITA 1	USA Ret	USA 6	GER 1	GER 1	SMR 10	SMR 4	CZE 6	CZE 7	GBR 19	GBR 2	EUR Ret	EUR DSQ	ITA 1	ITA 1	FRA 1	FRA 2	POR Ret	POR 14	3rd	327
2009	Ducati	AUS 1	AUS 2	QAT 2	QAT 2	SPA 1	SPA 1	NED 2	NED 1	ITA 2	ITA Ret	RSA 1	RSA 1	USA 9	USA 8	SMR 5	SMR 3	GBR 3	GBR Ret	CZE 8	CZE 6	GER 2	GER Ret	ITA 1	ITA 2	FRA 2	FRA 1	POR Ret	POR 2	2nd	456
2010	Ducati	AUS 3	AUS 5	POR 8	POR 8	SPA 5	SPA 1	NED 10	NED Ret	ITA 11	ITA 6	RSA 17	RSA 10	USA 3	USA 4	SMR 7	SMR 9	CZE 6	CZE 5	GBR 14	GBR 13	GER Ret	GER 1	ITA 3	ITA 2	FRA 7	FRA 5			6th	258
2011	Aprilia	AUS 9	AUS 7	EUR 6	EUR 17	NED Ret	NED 8	ITA 16	ITA 4	USA 9	USA Ret	SMR Ret	SMR 3	SPA 6	SPA 7	CZE 12	CZE 10	GBR Ret	GBR Ret	GER 3	GER Ret	ITA 2	ITA 2	FRA 7	FRA 10	POR 15	POR 11			8th	176

References

1. ^ Banned Haga wins at Hockenheim
2. ^ Haga takes championship second place after CAS reduces penalty
3. ^ Haga optimistic after 500cc switch
4. ^ Donington: Noriyuki Haga medical update

External links

• NKI41.com – Noriyuki Haga Official Website
• Noriyuki Haga at worldsbk.com
• Noriyuki Haga at motogp.com

Preceded by Aaron Slight (1993–95) Tadayuki Okada (1995)

Suzuka 8 Hours Winner 1996 (with Colin Edwards)

Succeeded by Tohru Ukawa (1997–98) Shinichi Itoh (1997–98)

Persondata
Name	Haga, Noriyuki
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1975-03-02
Place of birth	Nagoya, Japan
Date of death
Place of death