WSBK – Haga retains the advantage at Magny-Cours – Second Superbike race

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Haga retains the advantage at Magny-Cours

WSBK - Haga retains the advantage at Magny-Cours - Second Superbike race

The Haga – Spies duel took place yesterday for the French WSBK event at Magny-Cours, but it will be necessary to wait for the final to decide between them … In Supersport, Crutchlow takes advantage of a fall by Laverty to take to the open sea. Strongly Portimao !

Second Superbike race

Biaggi takes the best start and keeps the lead in front of Spies, immediately attacked and passed by Haga! Rea is right behind, along with Byrne, Muggeridge, Haslam and Fabrizio.

Nitro Nori is hot: he takes control from the first lap! Spies lost a place to Rea … The Japanese rider left a slight gap at the start of the 2nd loop while Jonathan Rea frightened everyone by licking the Nivernais soil with his rear wheel. !

At each passage in the last portion of the circuit, Nitro Nori manages to drop his two pursuers but on the rest of the course, is taken back ground … Biaggi benefits from a loss of grip – fortunately very short – of the front tire Honda # 65 to get away from Rea. Conversely, Spies took the opportunity to get closer to the Irishman.

Behind, Michel Fabrizio loses the lead in Adelaide! The Italian and his mount are not damaged: they start again in last position. Thanks to this incident, Leon Haslam breaks away from the peloton led by Byrne, Kagayama and Muggeridge.

In the 5th lap, Biaggi steals the lead from Haga under Adelaide braking but the Japanese pick it up right out of the hairpin! Nori is warned, however: the Roman Emperor runs for victory…

Johnny Rea is not to be outdone: on his Honda, the n ° 65 remains in the wheel of the hot n ° 3 and even overtakes him in the following lap … Meanwhile, the n ° 19, enemy number one of Haga in the championship, stay in touch !

On the 7th passage through the break Golf, Rea takes advantage of the Ducati’s vacuum to get Haga off the hook. However, the Japanese keep their 1st place in Adelaide braking. Behind them Biaggi does not lose a crumb of the show, just like Spies, posted a few lengths … only ?!

As in the first round, the four manufacturers present on the 1st row are fighting for the podium! Except that Haga replaces Fabrizio … and that over the laps, the No. 19 Yamaha gives way to the Ducati, Honda and Aprilia. "Honestly, I’m super disappointed with the second run", will testify Ben Spies before specifying:"the tire before we put on was difficult to take".

We note that David Checa, riding his Yamaha prepared by the French team GMT94 is once again close to the points: the most French of the Spaniards is fighting with Parkes, Baiocco and Scassa for 14th place !

The halfway mark was marked by a strong weapon pass between Max Biaggi and Jonathan Rea: Aprilia dived inside the Honda into the right of the High school and force Johnny to move aside and overflow on the vibrators! Haga takes the opportunity to consolidate his lead over the two men while Spies remains slightly behind.

Ten laps from the end, the four leading men are riding equidistant from each other. But a lap later, Rea is back in Biaggi’s wheel with a new race lap record! The first three end up in a handkerchief as Ben Spies is dumped.

Fortunately for the American, his closest rival, Leon Haslam, is more than 7 seconds away: the Englishman initially satisfied with the behavior of his CBR, had to reset his electronics and does not seem able to worry the Texan.

In the middle of a fight 5 seconds from the Honda n ° 91, Byrne, Kagayama, Muggeridge, Nieto, Corser and Camier – the new English champion who replaces Nakano on the official Aprilia – are not a threat for Ben Spies either. But what a treat for the spectators: "Kagayama and I kept pushing each other"Shakey Byrne will testify !

In the lead, Haga manages his lead over Biaggi. The Italian has to deal with the pressure Rea has been putting on him since the start of the race! On the 21st lap, Kagayama passed Byrne at the exit of Adelaide: it had been a long time since we last saw Suzuki at such a party, although a 6th place remains disappointing for the Gex.

Three laps from the end, the gaps between the three leading men widened. Rea seems to have given up and Biaggi doesn’t seem able to go find Haga. "I let go of the beat and got arm cramps", Jonathan confirms.

With 14 seconds behind Haga, Spies had to settle for lining up the laps. The 13 points he is set to score will not keep him at the top of the league, but could prove crucial in Portimao !

In the last lap, Haga does not give up and gives Biaggi and his Aprilia no chance. "I had a good pace, I followed Nori who looked very confident, I was wondering if he would hold out until the end and I got my answer", will sum up perfectly Max !

The Japanese therefore won his 8th victory this season and took over the reins of the championship. "I’m also extremely happy that my results bring us the constructors’ title", emphasizes Nitro Nori !

Finally 13th in this second round, Michel Fabrizio is much less satisfied: "I’m so sorry because I think I could have passed Spies and offered Nori some extra points", regrets Hurricane Mich ‘.

Ben Spies on the other hand will relativize: "honestly I’m surprised I didn’t finish 10th". And then, "even if we had won today, we still should have won both races in Portimao so that doesn’t change much"he calculates !

In the drivers’ championship, Noriyuki Haga (436 pts) leaves France with a 10 point lead over Ben Spies. With 346 points, Michel Fabrizio is definitely out of the race for the title but is guaranteed to finish 4th. The fight for 4th place, however, remains wide open between Biaggi (293), Rea (279) and Haslam (241) !

As for the manufacturers as we have seen, Ducati and its factory "1098/1198" are crowned for the second consecutive year: with 534 points, the Bologna firm is out of Yamaha’s reach (469). Follow Honda with 395 points, Aprilia (303), Suzuki (167), BMW (126) and Kawasaki (67).

The meeting is therefore worse in three weeks for the grand final of the World Superbike! Haga or Spies, Crutchlow or Laverty ?…

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