Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) are no strangers to the podium in the World Superbike Championship, Corser having taken 122 career top three finishes and Haga 82. As their winning records show, each of Yamaha’s lead 2008 season riders has a special affinity with Brands Hatch, having scored seven race wins between them at the sinuous and flowing English circuit. Corser is sitting in overall third in the points’ standings after a Brno race weekend that placed him second and then fourth. Corser’s pre-Brands confidence is boosted by the fact that he is currently only 12 points behind the second place rider, Max Neukirchner. Haga is only eight points behind Corser despite a tough weekend at Brno last time out. With four race wins to his credit this season already, and four previous WSB victories at Brands Hatch, he is one of the favourites for more podium glory at one of his favourite racing venues. Brands Hatch, despite its small paddock and pitgarages, is not just a popular location with Corser and Haga and the rest of the World Superbike riders, it’s a real festival of motorcycling for the fans. More than just a race weekend, it’s become an annual ‘must do’ for racing fans from all over Britain and beyond. The 3.703km circuit is undulating and generally fast, with what feels like many more than its six right and three left hand corners, plus a main straight, which is anything but straight. Almost every corner entry or apex is taken blind and the approach and eventual drop down Paddock Hill is one of the classic corners in all of motorcycle racing. Haga is looking for two strong results at Brands to get his overall championship campaign back on track again, “Brands Hatch is one of my favourite circuits and last year, in the second race, I was doing well, and I enjoyed fighting with James Toseland. Second position was kind of OK. This year I’m trying for a double win there. I like the atmosphere very much at Brands Hatch; it’s a great England track. I always do well in England and I will be thinking positive again.” On top of Corser’s enviable racing history at Brands, he also has family links to the UK. “It’s kind of like a second home race for me with my wife Sam’s family there. The track’s good, I like the layout, although the fences are a bit close on some places at the back of the circuit. But all in all, a good place. Atmosphere wise it’s the only place like it, the spectators are so close, you can see and hear them a lot more easily than at most circuits. It’s always a good track to go to with the atmosphere and the crowd. I always get plenty of support there so it’s one of the best ones.” Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Team YZF) enters Brands in overall 19th place while David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) remains tied on seven championship points with his team-mate Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94). They share 23rd place overall. Brands Hatch according to Massimo Meregalli (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team Manager) “The staff in the team did good job in Brno and we don’t expect there to be any exception to that when we get to Brands Hatch. It is a strange circuit in some ways but we have gained a lot of knowledge about it over many years so we are optimistic. We know we can do a good job there. We made a step in the development of the engine recently, and that should make a bit of a difference this weekend. I expect we can have good results from each of our riders and we know they have had great success there in the past.” Parkes out to make it three in a row Yamaha World Supersport Team rider Broc Parkes has been racking up record laps and pole positions this season but in the approach to the Brands Hatch round he will be going for three in a row in the most valuable contest there is, securing race wins. For the past two seasons Parkes has won the World Supersport race at Brands Hatch and this year, having already notched up a race win at Qatar, he has already proved that his new YZF-R6 is up to the job once again. In the most recent rounds Parkes has scored five Poles in a row but each time an unexpected development on raceday itself has seen Parkes not quite able to secure more race victories to add to his Qatar triumph. Joining Parkes for the Brands and Donington WSS rounds, substituting for the injured Fabien Foret, is local rider Karl Harris. No stranger to the WSS paddock, Harris normally rides a YZF-R1 Superbike in the BSB series but has been drafted into the top Yamaha WSS team to make best use of his vast Brands Hatch experience, and of course to help Parkes in his championship challenge. In the championship table, after eight rounds have been completed, Andrew Pitt leads on 133 points with Josh Brookes on 101 and Parkes, overall third, on 100. Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) is making up ground after taking three DNFs so far, and is currently ninth, on 40 points. Yamaha Spain World Supersport Team rider David Salom scored his first point since round one at the previous Brno race and is now ready for more at the challenging circuit of Brands Hatch. Parkes, who knows that he has to make up ground in the championship chase this weekend, knows Brands is a layout that suits both Yamaha man and Yamaha machine. “I just want to do my thing and get a good result at Brands because we will have one month off immediately afterwards. We have five races remaining in the championship and we are 33 points behind. I wasn’t happy with the result at Brno so I want to have a really good race result in the UK this weekend. I have won for the last two years in a row, so I’m out to make it three. Brands is a special track because you can hear the fans sometimes, they are really enthusiastic and so close to you. It’s not a very long track but it is one of the most flowing and the data tells us that the corner speeds are generally high. Our bike seems to work very well there, its character seems to suit the racetrack.” Harris, who came close to scoring WSS podiums in this class after winning the European Superstock Championship in 1999, said “I’m just happy to have this chance this weekend, especially at a British track that I know very well. I rode an R6 recently and it felt great to ride; the handling was fantastic. I will be doing my best to help the team and to get the best results possible. I am ready for this and ready to do well.” Wilco Zeelenberg, the Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager is confident that all the team’s preparations have been made as well as they can be ahead of the latest WSS round. “We didn’t have to work on the bike so much for the Brands weekend because our tests and preparations before Brno meant that we are ready now. Broc has won the past two races at Brands Hatch and we want to put him in the position to do that on raceday this year as well. He is so fast in one lap and his style works best when he has a lot of grip from the tyres. Brands should be a good place for him again. After Fabien got injured we have had to make some preparations for Karl’s arrival, check the details a bit and adjust footpegs, handlebars, etc, but not so much. Karl knows the way around Brands and has also been on an R6 lately. We have to wait and see how he goes on the weekend. We went for a UK rider because it’s Brands and Donington next. I think it is fair to say that Karl never really had the best bike in World Supersport but in the UK, when he was racing in that class, he had very good bikes, and stayed in the British series. He normally runs an R1 in the British Championship but when he rode an R6 recently, prepared by Rob Mac, he was fast straight away. Karl is more than welcome in the team and we will help him all we can, but of course he is not our first priority. Broc should do his job well so I hope Karl can compete with the other top competitors and put himself between Broc and the rest of the WSS paddock. We will have to wait and see what happens on raceday! After his big crash Fabien is doing fine, making good recovery and is today returning to his home from the hospital in Marseille. He is now up and about and able to move which is great news.” A sixth place finish for Michele Pirro (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) at Brno sees him fifth overall going into Brands, still the leading Yamaha Superstock 1000 FIM Cup rider at present. Claudio Corti (Yamaha Motor Italia Junior Team) had another no-score at Brno, while Sylvain Barrier (Yamaha YZF Junior Team) remains in 25th place overall. Loris Baz (YZF Yamaha Junior Team) continues his personal duel with Honda rider Patrick Vostarek in the European Superstock 600 class, now seven points ahead with four rounds to go.