'Samurai of Slide' back on the power.

The man who caught everybody napping in Sunday's 500cc British grand Prix, was Red Bull Yamaha's Noriyuki Haga the former Superbike star riding like the 'Samurai of Slide' of old.

Haga came through the field from as far back as twelfth on the opening few laps to work his way onto the rear wheel of eventual third place man Alex Barros. He then challenged the Brazilian for a podium place for nearly 10 laps before settling for fourth - five seconds clear of Carlos Checa and Shinya Nakano.

"I'm 80-percent happy with that, I think that I could have possibly gone one better at this track," commented Haga, who thrilled the Donington crowd with an array of Burn-outs and Wheelies on his slow down lap. "I didn't really change anything from yesterday, just thought about what I was doing on the bike more. This morning it seemed to work, I was concentrating on driving off the turns harder and I was fast and consistent.

"Once I got through the fairing bashing of the opening laps, which I don't mind at all because that's racing, I started to concentrate like I did this morning and began to chase down the leading group," added Haga, who was one of the most popular riders at Donington - the fans having been 'converted' during his WSB days. "I managed to catch Barros, but by that stage the softer front tyre I used had done its best, making it hard to improve further. The tyre helped me though, especially under brakes. It was a very good learning experience."

Haga's Race Engineeer, Colin Davies, added: "We've all been working very hard since the beginning of the season and this result will definitely give him and the whole team a major boost - hopefully today will prove the turning point."