Miguel Praia (born March 02, 1978 in Portalegre
, Portugal
) is a
Portuguese motorcycle racer.Praia is known to be
the first Portuguese motorcycle racer
embracing full World Class championships.
Career
Portuguese championships
His first race was in
1994 at the age of 16 in a
Yamaha TZR50. In
1997
rode a full championship for the first time, finishing 3rd overall
riding a
Yamaha TZR125.
After a
personal incident in his family, he stopped racing, but later in
1999 he came back into the racing world with a
Yamaha TZ125 for the Portuguese
125GP championship, having finished it in 6th place. Was
considered the Best Rookie.
The year
2000 revealed a good year in the newly
started
Aprilia Challenge 125cc, with Miguel
Praia ending most races in 1st place and setting lap records along
the way, but a juries' decision at the last round, made him end the
trophy in 2nd position.
In the following year,
2001, he decided to upscale
into the 600cc category. Ended up in 8th position in Troféu
Honda CBR600RR.
After a not-so-good entry in a supersport class,
2002 was a breakout year as he got full dedicated
to motorcycle racing and set the best results ever. New lap records
were set in most rounds, and as a result he became the champion of
Troféu
Honda CBR600RR 2002.
In
2003 the history repeated, and he took home
again the champion's title for Troféu
Honda CBR600RR. This year marked a change in
his career with the decision of embracing a new and harder
challenge: a world class championship.
Although
he was already racing in Superbike World Championship,
in 2005 at the end of the Portuguese Stocksport 1000 championship, decided to give it a
try, and managed to win the last 2 races, in a Honda CBR1000RR he had never
ridden.
European championships
In an attempt to get more and better experience from an
international competition, in
2002 and
2003 Miguel Praia raced in
European Supersport Championship, being always the best
Portuguese racer.
World championships
By
invitation of the Portuguese Governament, Miguel Praia went racing in the
Macau Grand Prix in
2002 and in 2003 finishing in 5th
on the first year, and in 4th on the following. Also in
2003 he entered the Portuguese round of the
MotoGP 250cc championship as a wildcard and
finished 22nd.
The year
2004 was his starting point in full World
class championships. He joined team
NCR
Ducati in the
Superbike
World Championship together with his teammate
Garry McCoy. Being the number 2 in the team and
a new comer into the Superbikes world the championship didn't went
the best direction, and what should have been a learning year in a
Ducati 999RS and then a
Ducati 998RS, became very disappointing one. He
finished the championship in 30th place, but still was considered
the Best Rookie.
New year, new team and a new motorcycle to learn from. A fresh
start at
DFX Extreme team with a
Yamaha R1 in
2005, gave
Praia a better introduction and stable learning ground and a lot of
improvements in lap times came from this. Although with a lot of
new comers from other world championships into the Superbikes
class, the results at the end of the championship seemed worst:
34th place.
He decided to give it a try at a lower class in
2006, the
Supersport World Championship,
but this time with a new comer Portuguese team:
Parkalgar Racing Team. Once again, the
motorcycle changed. It was now time for
Honda CBR600RR. Besides great expectations,
the team was experiencing some problems in getting the right setups
for the machine, and the year didn't went so well any either. Praia
had to abandon some races due to mechanical failures and ended up
not learning as much as needed, retiring from the
championship.
2007 became a learning year in the Supersport
world class with Praia getting best lap times compared with the
previous year' ones. But some new rivals from Superbikes and other
world championships came into play, and although the races results
were better, the final score in the table didn't seemed to reveal
that, he finished 34th.
New year comes and along new changes. In
2008 the
Parkalgar Racing Team secured
Factory Honda support and new
Honda
CBR600RR better shaped then the previous year's ones.
The
pre-season tests at Almeria
(Circuito de Almería) (in January)
brought new and good expectations for the team, with Craig Jones (Praia's teammate) setting new lap
record for this track and Miguel Praia going only
less-then-a-second behind. The first race of Supersport World
Championship 2008 will be in Losail
International Circuit
in Qatar
on February
23.
Career highlights
External links
) of MotoGP 250cc
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