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World
SuperBike 2002 - Round 3 - Kyalami Friday - Qualifying 1 - Aprilia Report Apr 5th, 2002 |
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Noriyuki Haga set the sixth fastest time in the first
day of qualifying at the South African round of the World Superbike
Championship. The Japanese rider, making his debut at Kyalami on the
twin-cylinder from Noale, was preceded by five riders who have spent
four days on tests in the run-up to the championship. After this
morning's free practice, Haga was 1.964 behind but in the afternoon he
reduced this margin to 0.869. Haga also obtained the best performance on
race tyres, unlike the five in front who were riding "soft". The trend
is upward, and in the two remaining hours of tests, it looks as though
Noriyuki will be able to reduce the gap even further. NORIYUKI HAGA (Playstation2-FGF Aprilia Team rider) commented: "I'd say things aren't too bad: I though Ducati and Honda would be further ahead since they got in so much practice a couple of months ago. This is the first time I've been out on Aprilia here in Kyalami - there are still a number of things to sort out, but I'm sure I'll be able to put on a good fight. The tyres also gave us some good indications: next to Phillip Island, things are looking much brighter." GIACOMO GUIDOTTI (Technical Manager of Playstation2-FGF Aprilia) commented, "We're quite pleased. You have to bear in mind that Haga was making his absolute debut on Aprilia at Kyalami, while the others had plenty of practice during the winter. We aren't far off and we'll try to get closer still. Haga's got a good pace on race tyres. But he's still not able to make the most of the "soft" tyres used here for the qualifying sessions. In the final tests, we'll try to improve this."
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