Nürburgring Superbike
Spain’s Carlos Checa was one of the quickest World Superbike riders in practice and qualifying, before the start of the first German World SBK race, said that he was aiming for two podium finishes.
In the first WSBK race the Althea Ducati Racing man had done half the work with the runner-up slot behind Jonathan Rea (Honda).
Checa tried right to the very end to take the win from his northern Irish rival, but eventually settled for his fifth podium of the season, following a win at Phillip Island and three second places at Misano, Kyalami and Valencia.
Carlos Checa says: “I got away well and, with Rea and Haga, found a good pace which allowed us to get away from the others”, revealed the World SBK rider.
“I was fighting against Noriyuki for second but when he crashed I tried to attack Jonathan. He had a strong pace though and I wasn’t able to make up that second of time that gave him the win. I’m very satisfied with the result and thank my team for their hard work.”
Only a crash half-way through the second race, while he was again fighting for the win with Rea and Haga, prevented the Spanish rider from repeating the result but there was overall satisfaction in the Althea Racing team for the weekend’s performance in Germany.
Genesio Bevilacqua says: “The only thing we were missing this weekend was luck”, said the General Manager of Althea Racing.
“The second race was tight, with very close times and it was easy for one of the protagonists to make a mistake. This happened to Carlos, that’s the way it goes. I’m nevertheless happy that Haga and his Ducati won and I compliment him and his team.”
“Despite the mistake, in both the last and first race, at the end of which we got onto the podium, we showed the potential of our bikes. Carlos is in great shape and now we’ll look to Imola and Magny-Cours where we hope to make up ground we have lost in the standings.”
