2002 World SuperBike Championship - Round 12 - Assen - Qualifying 1

Noriyuki Haga sixth quickest in the first qualifying for the Netherlands GP, the twelfth round of the Superbike World Championship. The Japanese ace of the Playstation2 - FGF Aprilia Team was held in check by a slide during the first few minutes of the session. Haga got up immediately without injury but he had lost the best bike in the accident. Even so, he made an excellent performance with the second RSV: firmly up with the leading group, he ended just a short distance from provisional pole leader Colin Edwards (Honda).

Today’s sessions took place on a perfectly dry track, even though under a overcast sky. Light showers are forecast for tomorrow, and this might just complicate matters for the teams and riders.

NORIYUKI HAGA (Playstation2 - FGF Aprilia Team rider) - “The track has been changed in the fastest stretch, though the Veslag corner seems to me to be almost exactly as it was last year! The bike’s really fast and the tyres felt good too. If I hadn’t fallen, I’d have got a better qualifying time, but I’m not worried as I can see we’ve got great potential and I’m sure I’ll be able to put up a good fight. The slide? I went too fast into a right-hander and the steering gear suddenly blocked.”

GIACOMO GUIDOTTI (Technical Manager of the Playstation2 - FGF Aprilia Team) - “Haga came off on the second lap, just after he’d posted a highly respectable time on the first. We lost the bike with the most effective settings: the other one was set up differently, but it was still useful to try it out. Dunlop have brought a new rear tyre, for which we have high hopes, but Haga only did one lap on them, so we’ll have to give them a better test tomorrow.”