Noriyuki Haga

Noriyuki Haga (芳賀 紀行, Haga Noriyuki, born 2 March 1975 in Atsuta-ku, Nagoya) is a Japanese former professional motorcycle racer. He won 43 world championship superbike races during a 25 year racing career, making him one of the most accomplished competitors never to have won a Superbike World Championship. Haga was the runner-up in the championship three times and, four times finished in third place.^[1] His 43 victories ranks fourth all time in the history of the Superbike World Championship behind Jonathan Rea, Carl Fogarty and Troy Bayliss.^[2] Haga ranks fourth behind Troy Corser, Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea in career World Superbike race starts with 313.^[3] He last competed in the 2018 CIV Supersport 600 Championship, aboard a Yamaha YZF-R6.

Noriyuki Haga
Haga at Assen in 2007
Nationality	Japanese
Current team	AG Motorsport Italia
Bike number	41
Website	nitro-nori41.com
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1998, 2001, 2003 First race 1998 500cc Japanese Grand Prix Last race 2003 MotoGP Valencia Grand Prix Team(s) Yamaha, Aprilia Championships 0 2003 championship position 14th (47 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 32 0 1 0 1 122 Superbike World Championship Active years 1994–2000, 2002, 2004–2011, 2013 Manufacturers Ducati, Yamaha, Aprilia, BMW Championships 0 2013 championship position 41st (2 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 312 43 116 7 59 3691 British Superbike Championship Active years 2012–2013 Manufacturers Yamaha, Kawasaki Championships 0 2013 championship position 23rd (8 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 26 0 1 0 0 171

Career

Early career

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.^[4] 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.^[5]

Superbike World Championship

Before Haga began racing full-time in the World Superbike Championship in 1998, he had already been racing occasionally in WSBK since 1994. In 1996, Haga received a wild card entry to race in the Japanese round of WSBK at Sugo. He surprisingly finished second in Race 1, collecting his first podium in WSBK at 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 in both rounds, collecting his first win in WSBK along with 2 more podiums.

In 1998, Haga began racing WSBK full-time. He also adopted the number 41 that he has used ever since. Haga joined Yamaha's Superbike team, replacing Colin Edwards who moved to Honda. He started the season brilliantly by winning 3 of the first 4 races. Unfortunately, his performance declined and he dropped out of 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 the 1998 500cc Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Haga scored an unexpected third place podium in his 500cc debut.^[6] This was his only podium in his brief 500cc/MotoGP career.

The following season, Haga finished 7th in the championship. He only managed 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 season in which 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, though it was later learned that Ephedrine occurs naturally in the herbs used in the Ephedra supplement that he'd taken during the off-season. He initially received a one-month ban beginning on June 5 and had his points from both South African races deducted.^[7] However, after a series of appeals the points from Race 1 in South Africa were reinstated and the ban was delayed and reduced to a 2-week ban, resulting in Haga missing the final round at Brands Hatch, Great Britain. With Haga losing 25 points and sitting out a 2-race weekend, Colin Edwards comfortably won the 2000 championship.^[8]

500cc/MotoGP World Championship

After an eventful year, Haga left WSBK and joined the 500cc World Championship for the 2001 season.^[9] Haga initially did not want to join the 500cc Championship as he wanted another chance to challenge for the WSBK crown. However, Yamaha had already announced that they were withdrawing from WSBK and focusing on the challenge to win the 500cc Championship.^[10] Haga joined the factory-backed Red Bull Yamaha WCM team, riding the Yamaha YZR500. Haga failed to adapt to the new bike and had a disappointing season, without a single podium. He finished fourteenth in the championship.

He returned to WSBK in 2002 in a one-bike Aprilia team, on an Aprilia RSV 1000. He had several podium finishes but no wins. He finished 4th in the 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 RS Cube. Both Haga and Edwards endured another disappointing season with the RS Cube performing poorly. Haga once again finished fourteenth in the championship without a podium.

Return to Superbike

After another failed attempt in MotoGP, Haga returned to WSBK in 2004. He joined the Renegade Ducati Koji team and was in contention for the championship until the final round, despite several mechanical 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 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 - a double win in the final round at Magny-Cours being just not 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 the 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.^[11] With Haga out of race 2, Ben Spies took victory and reduced Haga's points lead to 14. In 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.

British Superbike Championship

Haga signed with the Swan Yamaha British Superbike Team for the 2012 season alongside reigning 2011 BSB champion Tommy Hill. Haga marked his BSB debut at the first race of Round 1 at Brands Hatch with a 13th-place finish (Race 2 was cancelled due to extreme track conditions caused by pouring rain). In Round 8 at Cadwell Park, Haga broke his collarbone in a big high-side during free practice and was ruled out for the weekend. After suffering with nagging injuries for most of the season, Haga eventually finished 8th overall. On 16 September 2013, it was announced that Haga would be returning to BSB with Paul Bird Motorsport riding a Kawasaki ZX-10R for the final 3 rounds of the season.

Career summary

• World 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)
  • 2011: 8th in World Superbike Championship with Pata Aprilia Team (0 wins, 4 podiums, 176 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
  • 2012: 8th in British Superbike Championship with Swan Yamaha (0 wins, 1 podium, 160 points)
  • 2015: 7th in Asia Road Race SS600 Championship with Team Kagayama Suzuki ASIA (Suzuki GSX-R600)

Years	Series	Poles	Races	Podiums	Wins	2nd place	3rd place	Fastest Laps	Titles
All time	World Superbike (SBK)	7	286	110	43	38	29	55	0
2012	British Superbike (BSB)	0	28	1	0	1	0	0	0

Career statistics

Superbike World Championship

Races by year^[1]

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

Year	Bike	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		14		Pos	Pts
		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
1994	Ducati	GBR	GBR	GER	GER	ITA	ITA	SPA	SPA	AUT	AUT	INA	INA	JPN 21	JPN 12	NED	NED	SMR	SMR	EUR	EUR	AUS	AUS							50th	4
1995	Yamaha	GER	GER	SMR	SMR	GBR	GBR	ITA	ITA	SPA	SPA	AUT	AUT	USA	USA	EUR	EUR	JPN 18	JPN 19	NED	NED	INA	INA	AUS	AUS					NC	0
1996	Yamaha	SMR	SMR	GBR	GBR	GER	GER	ITA	ITA	CZE	CZE	USA	USA	EUR	EUR	INA	INA	JPN 2	JPN DSQ	NED	NED	SPA	SPA	AUS	AUS					22nd	20
1997	Yamaha	AUS	AUS	SMR	SMR	GBR	GBR	GER	GER	ITA	ITA	USA	USA	EUR	EUR	AUT	AUT	NED	NED	SPA	SPA	JPN 2	JPN 1	INA 5	INA 3					13th	72
1998	Yamaha	AUS 3	AUS 1	GBR 1	GBR 1	ITA 9	ITA 10	SPA 10	SPA 4	GER 5	GER 7	SMR Ret	SMR Ret	RSA 7	RSA 3	USA Ret	USA 1	EUR 12	EUR 7	AUT 9	AUT 12	NED 8	NED 8	JPN Ret	JPN 1					6th	258
1999	Yamaha	RSA 4	RSA Ret	AUS 6	AUS 5	GBR 10	GBR 6	SPA 1	SPA Ret	ITA 6	ITA 6	GER Ret	GER 6	SMR 8	SMR Ret	USA Ret	USA 10	EUR 7	EUR 3	AUT Ret	AUT Ret	NED 7	NED 8	GER 5	GER 9	JPN 12	JPN 4			7th	196
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 DSQ	GBR DSQ			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
2013	BMW	AUS	AUS	SPA	SPA	NED	NED	ITA	ITA	GBR	GBR	POR	POR	ITA 15	ITA 15	RUS	RUS	GBR	GBR	GER	GER	TUR	TUR	USA	USA	FRA	FRA	SPA	SPA	41st	2

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year

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

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos	Pts
1998	500cc	Yamaha	JPN 3	MAL	ESP	ITA	FRA	MAD	NED	GBR	GER	CZE	IMO	CAT	AUS	ARG			20th	16
2001	500cc	Yamaha	JPN Ret	RSA Ret	SPA 12	FRA Ret	ITA 10	CAT 10	NED 10	GBR 4	GER 12	CZE 11	POR Ret	VAL Ret	PAC Ret	AUS 8	MAL 9	BRA DNS	14th	59
2003	MotoGP	Aprilia	JPN 12	RSA Ret	SPA 11	FRA 8	ITA Ret	CAT 12	NED Ret	GBR 7	GER Ret	CZE 13	POR 15	BRA 14	PAC 12	MAL 12	AUS 14	VAL 15	14th	47

British Superbike Championship

Races by year

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

Year	Bike	1		2		3			4		5		6			7			8		9		10		11		12			Pos	Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R3
2012	Yamaha	BHI 13	BHI C	THR Ret	THR 10	OUL 2	OUL 13	OUL 6	SNE 4	SNE Ret	KNO 6	KNO Ret	OUL 4	OUL 5	OUL 4	BHGP Ret	BHGP 5		CAD DNS	CAD DNS	DON Ret	DON 12	ASS 5	ASS 6	SIL 16	SIL 15	BHGP	BHGP	BHGP	8th	139
2013	Kawasaki	BHI	BHI	THR	THR	OUL	OUL	OUL	KNO	KNO	SNE	SNE	BHGP	BHGP		OUL	OUL	OUL	CAD	CAD	DON	DON	ASS 5	ASS Ret	SIL Ret	SIL 14	BHGP 11	BHGP Ret	BHGP Ret	23rd	18

References

1. . worldsbk.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
2. "The World Superbike Championship Statistics and Race Records: 1988 – Present". devittinsurance.com. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
3. "Will there be an eighth winner at Magny-Cours?". worldsbk.com. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
4. . motoracing-japan.com. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
5. "1996 Suzuka 8 Hours results". motoracing-japan.com. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
6. "1998 Japanese Grand Prix results". motogp.com. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
7. Banned Haga wins at Hockenheim
8. Haga takes championship second place after CAS reduces penalty 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
9. "Noriyuki Haga career MotoGP statistics". motogp.com. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
10. Haga optimistic after 500cc switch
11. Donington: Noriyuki Haga medical update 7 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Noriyuki Haga.

• Noriyuki Haga at MotoGP.com 
• Noriyuki Haga at WorldSBK.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)