Haga and Spies share spoils

Noriyuki Haga and Ben Spies won a race each at Magny-Cours to send the race for the World Superbike title down to the wire.

Superbike title fight goes down to the final round

Title contenders Noriyuki Haga and Ben Spies won a race each in France to ensure that the FIM Superbike World Championship fight goes down to the final round. Japanese rider Haga will carry a 10 point lead into the last round after he took second behind Spies in race one before dominating in race two at Magny-Cours. Spies could only manage a fourth place finish in the second race, meaning Haga was the net winner as the two riders prepare for the final battle in Portugal. The 25-year-old American made his rival pay for a poor start by winning the first race while Haga had to battle past Max Biaggi and was too far behind the leader by the time he made his move on the Italian. Biaggi rounded out the top-three while Michel Fabrizio and Leon Haslam trailed behind in fourth and fifth respectively.

No mistake

But Haga made no mistake in the second race, making a much better getaway from the line and, after another early battle with Biaggi, controlling the race from the front. While the veteran Ducati rider was cruising at the head of the pack, Spies was struggling with tyre problems further back in the pack. Biaggi claimed second after an entertaining battle with Britain's Jonathan Rea while Spies trailed the pair in fourth, 12 seconds adrift of the podium places. The series heads to Portimao in Portugal for the final round with Haga in an excellent position to win his first World Superbike title after a long and distinguished career in the category. "For sure this is an important win for me," said Haga. "Especially after Nurburgring I don't sleep every night because I am always thinking about the position in the championship. "I'm really happy with this second place and win, my chief engineer made a good setting for race two and the feeling was good for race pace distance. "I couldn't make an advantage from Max and Johnny but concentrated on the last laps to take this win, which gave the manufacturers' title to Ducati." Race One:
1 Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 37mins 57.110secs,
2 Noriyuki Haga (Jpn) Ducati 37:57.291,
3 Max Biaggi (Ita) Aprilia 38:02.119,
4 Michel Fabrizio (Ita) Ducati 38:13.457,
5 Leon Haslam (Gbr) Honda 38:19.732,
6 Carlos Checa (Spa) Honda 38:22.058,
7 Yukio Kagayama (Jpn) Suzuki 38:24.254,
8 Shane Byrne (Gbr) Ducati 38:24.688,
9 Troy Corser (Aus) BMW 38:25.596,
10 Jakub Smrz (Cze) Ducati 38:25.826 Race Two:
1 Noriyuki Haga (Jpn) Ducati 38mins 00.282secs,
2 Max Biaggi (Ita) Aprilia 38:01.762,
3 Jonathan Rea (Gbr) Honda 38:06.306,
4 Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 38:18.417,
5 Leon Haslam (Gbr) Honda 38:21.518,
6 Yukio Kagayama (Jpn) Suzuki 38:23.929,
7 Shane Byrne (Gbr) Ducati 38:23.983,
8 Karl Muggeridge (Aus) Suzuki 38:25.120,
9 Carlos Checa (Spa) Honda 38:31.737,
10 Troy Corser (Aus) BMW 38:32.789 Championship standings:
1 Noriyuki Haga (Jpn) Ducati 436pts,
2 Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 426,
3 Michel Fabrizio (Ita) Ducati 346,
4 Max Biaggi (Ita) Aprilia 293,
5 Jonathan Rea (Gbr) Honda 279. Manufacturers Standings:
1 Ducati 534pts,
2 Yamaha 469,
3 Honda 395,
4 Aprilia 303