Noriyuki Haga

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Noriyuki Haga

Noriyuki Haga
Nationality Flag of Japan Japanese
Date of birth March 2, 1975 (1975-03-02) (age 33)
Place of birth Nagoya Japan
Website nki41.com
SBK Record
Current team Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team
Bike number 41
World Championships 0
Race starts 210
Race Wins 27
Podium finishes 77
Pole positions 5
Fastest laps 43
2008 Championship position 5th (122pts)

Noriyuki Haga (芳賀紀行?) born March 2, 1975 (1975-03-02) (age 33) in Nagoya Japan is a Japanese professional motorcycle racer. He is also known as Nori-Chan, Nori, Nitro Nori, and Haga-san.

Haga won the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race in 1996 with American Colin Edwards as his teammate. He was the Japanese Superbike Champion in 1997, coupled with four top-five finishes in the Superbike World Championship while filling in for the injured Edwards.

In 1998 Haga was racing WSBK full-time, adopting the number 41 he has used ever since. He won five races (including 3 of the first 4) and finished sixth in the championship, despite lacking knowledge of most circuits on the calendar. He also scored an unexpected third place podium in a 500cc wild-card ride at his home race at Suzuka. Haga finished seventh in the WSBK standings in 1999 on the new R7 Yamaha, finishing ahead of team-mate Vittoriano Guareschi in every race he finished. As Akira Yanagawa came 5th, he was not the highest placed Japanese rider, something which has never happened since.

Haga improved his performance to challenge for the title in 2000. Many race fans feel he would have won the 2000 championship had he not been disqualified for testing positive for a banned substance. As a result, Haga was stripped of his race win points at the opening round in Kyalami, South Africa, and was forced to sit out a 2-race weekend as punishment. It was later learned that the banned substance was ephedrine, which occurs naturally in herbs used in the Ma Huang supplement Haga had been taking during the off-season to lose weight.

Haga raced in MotoGP on a WCM Red Bull-sponsored Yamaha 500cc motorcycle in 2001, and on MS Racing's MotoGP Aprilia in 2003. He finished a disappointing fourteenth in the championships both years. 2002 was a winless season in the Superbike World Championship for Aprilia, but in 2004 he returned to WSBK riding for Renegade Ducati and was in contention for the championship until the final round. 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.

He continues with Yamaha Motor Italia for 2008. He struggled in the first two rounds, but took wins at Valencia and Monza.

Haga has never finished behind a team mate in the Superbikes World Championship points standings. He beat former Superbike World Champions, Scott Russell and Corser, when they rode together at Yamaha in 1998 and 2007 respectively.

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