WOOHOOOOOOOOOO :
IN a shock turn of events Noriyuki Haga has been signed by Swan Yamaha for the 2012 British Superbike championship. Haga had originally been rumoured to join the British series on a Ducati 1199 Panigale, but our source close to the deal has revealed that the Japanese star will return to Yamaha machinery for his move to the BSB championship. Where this leaves Anthony West is unknown, as it appears that Haga's team have scooped the Yamaha deal from underneath the Australian. In regards to Ian Hutchinson, Haga's appointment to the Swan Yamaha team is reminiscent to when Gregorio Lavilla took James Haydon's place at Airwaves Ducati in 2005. However, Hutchinson will remain with Swan Yamaha for the road racing season. The Japanese rider has a long standing relationship with Yamaha, having taken success in the Japanese superbike championship before his debut on the World Superbike stage in 1998.
hmmm - have done some more searching for this news & can't find anything other than on Visordown (who can be notoriously wrong...allegedly!)........nothing on Swan Yamaha's website & nothing on Bikesport news (who are usually more accurate), nothing on MCN & this is all I could find on Crash:
World Superbike legend Noriyuki Haga could be heading to the Swan Yamaha team for the 2012 British Superbike Championship.
Haga, a 43-time WSBK race-winner and treble title runner-up, would be replacing the injured Ian Hutchinson alongside reigning champion Tommy Hill.
Whilst the 'Haga to BSB' rumours are nothing new - and there is no official confirmation of any deal - the Swan Yamaha link moved a step closer to reality following a Tweet by Anthony West (@AntWest13) on Friday, which read "Just lost my 2nd ride for the year".
Having seen his planned MotoGP return end due to a lack of funding, West was highly rumoured to be taking over the vacant Swan Yamaha ride and had previously confirmed "BSB could be the place for me".
The Australian's "lost ride" comment is thus assumed to refer to the Swan deal suddenly slipping away - and Haga, left off the 2012 WSBK entry list, is the only other big name thought to be in contention... Time will tell.
Awesome newsssss,i reckon Haga Son will be upthere,i feel sorry for Ian Hutchinson,but it shows riders need to be becarfaul.
I will go to Brands next April and reckon first race will be Shakey and 2 Haga..Hmmm maibe i'm rong Lol
well shakey goes so well at brands so no one would bet against that!
Haga would be great in BSB as hes a real crowd pleaser, but I think losing the WSB to ben spies (when he was a rookie in the series) was the end of Hagas success - and BSB probably tougher in many ways than WSB. I hope i'm wrong as he was robbed of the WSB title when he rode the r7 (thanks to cough mixture!), but I do think hes had his day (although Checa surprised everyone in WSB so you never can tell!!)
right, it's been confirmed - Haga joins Swan Yamaha for this years BSB, permanently replacing the injured Hutchy.
This could be a very interesting year!!
![Haga Signs for Swan Yamaha for BSB2012 - Forums [Biker Match]](/images/backgrounds/strips/8mobileLQ.jpg)
![Haga Signs for Swan Yamaha for BSB2012 - Forums [Biker Match]](/images/backgrounds/strips/8desktopLQ.jpg)
