Yamaha speak out over Haga failure.

Yamaha's spectacular number one rider Noriyuki Haga is facing a possible three month ban from the World Superbike championship after he was twice found to be over the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme) limit for ephedrine, a dietary supplement.

Haga, who first failed a test in South Africa after the opening round of the series, was leading the Superbike championship as the series moved to round five at Monza last weekend. There, in an effort to clear his name Haga ordered a second test which also showed him to be over the legal limit. During the weekend, two poor performances dropped him to second in the points table.

Haga's Yamaha team have now released a statement concerning the two failures.

"The results of the B-sample analysis, performed in the IOC accredited doping control laboratory in Cologne, Germany, show the positive test for ephedrine was brought about by Haga's use of a dietary supplement containing the naturally occurring ephedra compound "Ma Huang". In addition to a range of herbal and dietary supplements, ephedrine is commonly found in ordinary eye drops and cold remedies."

" [Noriyuki] Haga declared earlier that he was not aware of having taken any restricted substances and did not know that the compound "Ma Huang" contains ephedrine. The FIM regulations do not mention "Ma Huang as a banned substance."

The FIM allow a concentration level of 10 micrograms of ephedrine per sample. Of the two samples Haga provided came back as 12 micrograms and 13.4 micrograms respectively. During the off season the Yamaha rider underwent an extensive fitness regime and returned to the team some 15 kilograms lighter than last year. It is suspected that the compound 'Ma Huang' was an ingredient in a dietary supplement that Haga was using to trim his weight in the off season.