Checa: Donington Superbike Record Pole

2011 World Superbike

After complete domination at the opening round of the 2011 World Superbike Championship in Australia, Carlos Checa remains on top, qualifying on the pole Saturday for Donington Park.

The Spaniard not only grabbed the top spot with his Superpole 3 time of 1:28.099, but also set a record lap at Donington. This followed the Althea Racing Ducati rider’s top time in Free Practice 2 Saturday morning, a 1:28.696, which was a tenth faster than the previous record lap at the UK track.

Carlos Checa (Althea Ducati Superbike) says: “I’m extremely satisfied to be in pole here at Donington, almost more so than I was at Phillip Island because I really didn’t expect it here today.

“We’ve been making constant improvement over the last two days and the small changes made along the way have paid off, the tires worked well this afternoon and I was able to make the fast lap. The new Q tire allowed us to make two fast laps and in the cold which isn’t easy.

“I am happy with what we have been able to achieve, especially in these cold conditions as you never know how it will go when it’s so different from one day to another and now we just have to see how it will be tomorrow before deciding on the race tyre. I hope the conditions don’t get worse but in the meantime I’m just going to enjoy this moment.”

Following were two riders who are racing at a home track, Leon Haslam on the BMW Motorrad S1000RR, and Tom Sykes on the Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10R. Haslam was three-tenths behind Checak, and Sykes was five-tenths behind the man who doubled at Phillip Island.

Taking the final position on the front row was another Ducati, the Effenbert Liberty Racing 1198R piloted by Jakub Smrz.

Starting on the second row will be three Aprilias and a Honda: Noriyuki Haga (Pata Racing Aprilia), the reigning World Superbike Champion Max Biaggi (Alitalia Aprilia), Leon Camier (Alitalia Aprilia) and Jonathan Rea (CBR1000RR).

2011 Donington World Superbike: Superpole Results
1. Carlos Checa (Ducati 1198R) 1’28.099
2. L. Haslam (BMW S1000RR) 1’28.365
3. T. Sykes (Kawasaki ZX-10R) 1’28.556
4. J. Smrz (Ducati 1198R) 1’28.561
5. N. Haga (Aprilia RSV4) 1’28.673
6. M. Biaggi (Aprilia RSV4) 1’28.702
7. L. Camier (Aprilia RSV4) 1’28.737
8. J. Rea (Honda CBR1000RR) 1’29.514
9. M. Melandri (Yamaha YZF-R1) 1’28.803
10. T. Corser (BMW S1000RR) 1’28.836

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