Haga makes R1 history with 16 to 1 charge!

Noriyuki Haga claimed the first ever World Superbike race win for Yamaha's YZF-R1 after charging from just 16th on the grid to beat world championship leader, and race one winner, Troy Corser in the final outing at Brno on Sunday.

The Japanese Yamaha Motor Italia star gave a magical race two display to take a lead he would never lose on lap seven, overtaking Corser and then establishing over a three-second lead by the chequered flag.

Haga's win, Yamaha's first in the class since 'Nitro Nori' himself won race two at Assen in September 2000 on the YZF-R7, came after a troubled weekend in qualifying that saw him starting way down the grid.

However, even despite missing out on Superpole the 29-year-old maintained that the settings of his R1 were ideal for race conditions. A lack of grip held him back as he raced to a credible seventh in the opening race, but he then shocked his team by taking exactly the same set-up and tyre combination to victory in the second!

"You have to ask Noriyuki about this race because I have no idea how he did it!" confessed Yamaha Italian team coordinator Massimo Meregalli. "Maybe the temperature change had something to do with it because he had the same set up on the machine from race one to race two. Obviously this is a huge morale boost for the whole team and we will go back to Italy very happy and motivated for the next race."

"I am very happy for this win," said Haga afterwards. "I had some problem in the first laps when I touched Chris (Vermeulen) and this made my brake lever go up in the air. I had to hit it to put it back in place and this cost me some time but I was able to make some very good lap times.

"All season I have been asking for more engine power and I think that we will have a new engine with more power for Brands Hatch. I won twice there last year so now I am very much looking forward to going there," he added.

Haga's victory means that Suzuki, Ducati, Honda and Yamaha have now all won at least one race during the 2005 WSBK season to date.

But, despite his victory, Haga remains sixth in the championship - albeit with a reduced gap to defending world champion James Toseland in fifth.