2011 World Superbike
It was another Althea-Ducati weekend of World Superbike at Misano as Carlos Checa doubled there.
The Spaniard has now won eight out of 12 races (six rounds), and leads the championship by 72 points over the reigning WSBK Champion, Max Biaggi (Alitalia Aprilia).
At Misano Sunday, Biaggi and Marco Melandri (Yamaha Racing) joined Checa on the race 1 podium; in race 2, it was Biaggi and Noriyuki Haga (Pata Aprilia).
Following is the post-WSBK race tire wrap from Giorgio Barbier, the director of the championship’s one-make tire supplier, Pirelli.
Giorgio Barbier (Racing Director of Pirelli Moto) says: "A truly fantastic weekend of racing considering that the forecasted rain on race day never arrived. In a Superpole getting wetter by the second, however, Pirelli demonstrated the performances of its soft Diablo Rain rear and harder rain front, helping Sykes (Kawasaki) to earn the second pole of his WSBK career.
"Pirelli brought over 5000 tyres to supply the four classes of racing and over 130 riders, including those of the STK600 Coppa dei Due Paesi organized by Yakhnich Motorsport between national riders from Russian and Italian national riders with a second round to be held in Russia as a preview to 2012 WSBK action.
"For Race 1, most SBK riders chose the new SC1 rear tyre, matched with mixed A (SC1) and B (SC2) front tyres. Checa (Ducati) remained the only rider with the more conservative and harder (C) rear tire, but still managed a victory 1 second in front of Biaggi (Aprilia), followed by Melandri (Yamaha), Sykes (Kawasaki) and Laverty (Yamaha) for a perfectly balanced race finish.
"A 45°C asphalt temperature at the start of Race 2 prompted Smrz and Guintoli (Ducati) to change to the A (SC0) rear tyre and Checa (Ducati) to change to the B rear. With a red flag going up after two incidents in the same corner and suspected oil on the track, the restarted 14-lap race urged Badovini (BMW) and Haga (Aprilia) to mount the softer A (SC0) solution, helping them to record their best performances of the season in 3rd and 4th. In part one of the interrupted Race 2, Biaggi (Aprilia) registered a track record of 1’36.34 which was then followed by a Pirelli Best Lap by Checa (Ducati) of 1’36.52 in the restarted race."
Pirelli Misano World Superbike Best Lap Awards:
SBK Race 1 – Carlos Checa (Althea Racing), 1’36.520 (Lap 5)
SBK Race 2 – Carlos Checa (Althea Racing), 1’36.344 (Lap 3)
Total Misano World Superbike Best Lap: Checa C. (Althea Racing): 5, Biaggi M. (Aprilia Alitalia Racing): 3, Haga N. (PATA Racing Team Aprilia): 1, Sykes T. (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike): 1, Camier L. (Aprilia Alitalia Racing): 1, Fabrizio M. (Team Suzuki Alstare): 1