Haga: WSBK to out thrill MotoGP.

Noriyuki Haga believes the 2008 World Superbike season will be more exciting than MotoGP.

The 'Samurai of Slide', who lost out on last year's title by just two points to James Toseland - compared with Casey Stoner's 125-point MotoGP championship margin - is the highest ranked rider to remain in WSBK for 2008, but says it's too close to call.

For although Toseland has left for MotoGP, Carlos Checa and Makoto Tamada have moved in the other direction - while reigning World Supersport champion Kenan Sofuoglu and double BSB king Ryuichi Kiyonari have also signed up to take on the likes of Haga, Troy Corser, Troy Bayliss, Max Biaggi, Ruben Xaus and Yukio Kagayama.

"We will have 30 individual races this year and many good riders have now entered the World Superbike series, including six Japanese!" began Nori. "I'm looking forward to a good battle with all of them.

"I think World Superbike will be more exciting than MotoGP this year, so people should come along to their local race to see the close battles," he declared.

"I feel that the performance of all the riders and teams will improve a great deal so the biggest threat is difficult to see right now.

"We must see more of the competition first. Suzuki and Ducati were strong at the Philip Island tests, but we have not seen the new Honda. We'll have to wait for that," he added.

Haga, himself a former grand prix rider, knows that 2008 could be his best chance yet of finally lifting a world crown - and has been working hard to make sure that, in contrast to previous years, he starts the season strongly.

"We have never seen Noriyuki so willing to do extra work in testing. He was doing more than one long run per day and that is a great sign," revealed team coordinator Massimo Meregalli.

Final pre-season preparations for the 2008 World Superbike Championship will be carried out during a two-day test at Qatar on February 12-13.

The first round, also at Qatar, begins on Thursday 21 February, with Superpole qualifying on Friday 22 and the season-opening pair of races on Saturday 23 of February.