Friday at Phillip Island proved to be nothing short of frustrating for Yamaha Motor Italia's
Noriyuki Haga as he battled both injury and set-up problems before being forced to settle for 13th on the provisional grid.
The day had started out promisingly for the Japanese ace when he topped the morning's free practice session ahead of team-mate
Troy Corser and Ducati's
Troy Bayliss, but got worse when qualifying came around.
The relatively cool temperatures of final qualifying were a great improvement on practice, which followed rain showers which had altered the grip level of the track surface, but Haga found that, not only could he not manage to replicate the sort of times he had managed in the January tests, he also fell short of his morning time when it mattered most.
As well as finding that his suspension settings were less than ideal for the ever-changing surface, Haga was also having to overcome discomfort from the battering he had taken in two crashes at last week's opening SBK round, and could only manage 13th position on the overnight line-up.
"We are still working on our suspension settings, to try and improve bump absorption, front and rear, and we may also change our geometry to try and make things better for tomorrow," he reported, "We still have some chattering on the last corner as well.
"On top of that, I have some pain in my shoulder and my right side in general after Qatar, and have a little bit of a problem here when braking for right-hand corners. I will go for a massage at the Clinica Mobile later, and I think it will be better for tomorrow."
Team manager Massimo Meregalli confirmed that Haga was battling through the pain barrier, but backed his man to come good as the weekend progressed.
"Noriyuki was worried about his physical condition, but he just gritted his teeth and got on with it," the Italian said, "This is already a positive sign and, when he is focused on the race, he may feel even less pain."
