ASSEN 9th ROUND 1st, 2nd and 3th SEPTEMBER 2006 DR. JEKYLL AND MR”¦HAGA In the last 4 races Noriyuki Haga scored a win (the 20th, 7th rider all-time that reaches this goal), two third places and a fourth: amazing performances that, with an average of 17.5 points per race, set him as the best performer (with Kagayama) of the two weekends of Brno and Brands Hatch, the first ones of the second part of the season. During recent seasons the japanese rider changed his performances deeply during the second half of the season. In 2005 up to Misano Haga had recorded only 88 points, while in the second part of the season scored 183, with one race missing (Imola race 2, cancelled). In 2004 the performances were similar: 119 points in the first half of the season and 180 in the second. Haga was the best scorer in the second part, better than World Champion Toseland, that in the last 11 races out of 22 scored 179 points. 5000 At lap 23, race 1, in Brands Hatch, Troy Corser became the first rider in SBK™ history to run 5000 laps in races. At the moment he is the only one that reached this goal, Pierfrancesco Chili, that was capable to reach it, recorded a double retirement and stopped at 4995 laps. 10 POLES FOR BAYLISS The aussie scored at Brands Hatch the 10th pole of the career and reached at the 6th spot all-time Pierfrancesco Chili. CORSER IN THE POINTS During his SBK™ career Troy Corser ended 205 races in the points, he misses only 2 points finishes to reach at the top of the charts Aaron Slight, that ended in the points 207 times out of 229 starts. JAMES, AT LAST! James Toseland at lap 4 of race 1 in Brands Hatch finally scored his first fastest lap of the career. He is the 73rd rider of SBK™ to score a fastest lap and he needed 134 races to record it. Toseland is the second rider in this ranking, behind Gregorio Lavilla, that needed 141 race starts to record his first fastest lap (Silverstone 2003 race 1). For a rider with 6 wins like Toseland it was an anomaly to miss fastest laps in his race career. In SBK™ history there are only 4 riders (out of 52) that obtained wins and didn’t score fastest laps: Adrien Morillas (1 win), Alex Vieira (1), Tom Kipp (1), and Terry Rymer (2). ANNIVERSARIES OF THE WEEK · 28 august 1994, Sugo race 1, 150th presence for Fabrizio Pirovano, 10th win for Scott Russell, first pole and first podium for Yasutomo Nagai. In race 2 Carl Fogarty records his 25th podium, at the end of his career he will record a total of 109 podiums (absolute record); · 29 august 1999, A1-Ring race 1, 50th win for Honda (Colin Edwards); · 30 august 1992, Sugo race 2: 25th win for Doug Polen; · 2 september 2001, Oschersleben race 1, first podium for Ruben Xaus. The spanish rider at the moment counts 31 podium finishes, the last one was in Magny Cours 2003 race 2 (win). In race 2 in Oschersleben 2001 Xaus obtains his first win and Gregorio Lavilla celebrates 100 race starts. The 2nd of september is also the birth date of 2 rider with a very similar name: Doug Polen (born in 1960) and Doug Tolan (1972), the first one was World Champion in 1991 and 1992, while the latter started only the Laguna Seca races in 1995 on a Yamaha; · 3 september 2000, Assen race 2: first and only fastest lap of the career for Juan Bautista Borja. In the 2 races run the spanish rider obtains his only 2 podium finishes of his SBK™ career out of 91 races started. MILESTONES IN ASSEN · 1992 race 2 (september 13): Raymond Roche scores his 25th (and last) fastest lap. He is the first rider in SBK™ history to reach this milestone. Roche’s record will remain unbeaten up to th 28th of may 1995, when Carl Fogarty will equal it in Donington. Fogarty in his career recorded 48 fastest laps and he is at the first place all-time; · 1993 race 1: 75th win for Ducati by Carl Fogarty; race 2: 10th win for Carl Fogarty; · 1996 race 2: 25th win for Honda by Carl Fogarty; · 2001 100th pole position for Ducati (Troy Bayliss), the italian manufacturer scores in race 1 its 175th fastest lap (Ruben Xaus); · 2002 race 2: first career podium for James Toseland; · 2004 race 1: 200th race start for Troy Corser, 10th pole position for Pierfrancesco Chili. This was the 125th pole for Ducati and the last one scored by the rider from Bologna; · 2005 first pole position for Chris Vermeulen. HIGHS AND LOWS OF 2005 IN ASSEN · best season qualifying result for James Toseland, second in grid; · worst season qualifying result for Regis Laconi: 19th. CANEPA’S RECORD He is only 18, but the rider of Ducati Xerox Junior already set a milestone: he has always started from the front row in all the 16 races run. In the SBK™ world, starting from the front row for such a long string of races is extremely rare and Canepa is only one race short of reaching the absolute record of all 4 classes (SBK™, WSS™, SST1000 and SST600). The longest sequence in SBK™ is 17 straight front rows and was recored by Scott Russell from Brands Hatch 1993 to Albacete 1994. In WSS™ the record belongs to Karl Muggeridge, with 14 starts from the front row (Brands Hatch 2003 Magny Cours 2004). In STK1000 the record is in progress: it’s Luca Scassa that is recording 7 straight front row starts (since Magny Cours 2005).