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Miguel Praia

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Template:Supersport rider 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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]

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

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