The second round of the World Superbike Championship took place at Donington Park and Carlos Checa and the Althea Racing team were once again protagonists, taking home 41 valuable points thanks to a third place finish in Race 1 and an amazing win in Race 2.

Race 1

Although starting from pole, a lack of feeling with the rear tyre caused Carlos to lose numerous positions through the first corners and he found himself down in eleventh place by the end of lap one. Finding his rhythm as time went on, he chased down the large and tightly packed leading group, passing first Corser, then Rea and also Camier. Althea Racing’s flagbearer was up to fourth place by lap 19 but, with only four laps remaining, the three second gap between him and third placed Haslam seemed like it would be hard to close. Carlos was however not put off, and his determination saw him pick up the pace for the final push; he completed the last three laps in under 1m30, lapping roughly a second faster than Haslam on the BMW, and passed the Brit in specatacular style on the very last lap.

Race 2

Considering the problems experienced at the start of Race 1, Carlos and his technicians opted for the softer tyre solution for race 2. The track temperature was slightly higher compared to the morning’s race and Carlos got away in much more determined fashion this time around. Immediately up in second, he quickly got past Haslam to take the lead and from there he maintained an extremely fast pae, managing his advantage and continuing to increase the gap between him and the chasing pack. Even though tyre wear became something of an issue during the final stages, Checa controlled the situation and crossed the line in first place, with a 3.3 second advantage over Melandri (Yamaha) in second. As well as the race win, Carlos also took home the Pirelli prize for the fastest lap of the race, 1m28.988, which becomes the new lap record.


Carlos Checa

“In Race 1 I was struggling at the start, I didn’t have feeling with the rear tyre and as a result I lost a lot of positions. But I have to say it was one of the most exciting races of my career, so many riders touching, crashing, everything! After the first laps I was able to build up a good rhythm and start moving up through the pack one rider at a time. It wasn’t easy but I pushed hard and then two laps from the end I realised that I could maybe get past Haslam too for third. I’m really happy because I didn’t think I’d get from 11th on lap one to the podium. We made the decision to use the hard tyre solution for the race and even thought we paid for this at the start it turned out to be the right decision in the end. We opted for the softer tyre in race two; we knew it would be very high performing although a bit less so towards the end of the race. It remained pretty consistent but towards the end I had to change my riding a little to manage the situation. My strategy was to get to the front, built up a bit of a lead and then manage that lead and today everything worked perfectly. It was great to win at Phillip Island but today meant even more to me. A lot of people may remember what happened to me here many years ago; that day I lost something here but today I can say that I found it again.”

Genesio Bevilacqua, General Manager of Althea Racing

“What a great performance, a great job by the team and a great job by Carlos who can adapt even to more difficult tracks like Donington. This circuit represented an enormous hurdle for him after the terrible accident he suffered during 1998’s MotoGP race and so today he could finally put this behind him. I thank him for believing in us and our advice. The performance today once again confirms the fact that we have a very solid package – bike, rider and team – and we will continue to fight for the title. It’s still early and the championship is long but we are on the right road. I would like to thank all of our sponsors for supporting us and Ducati for having provided such great material. Finally I thank everyone who has believed and continues to believe in a small but passionate team like ours.”

RESULTS:

Race 1

1. Melandri (Yamaha);
2. Smrz (Ducati);
3. Checa (Ducati).

Race 2

1. Checa (Ducati);
2. Melandri (Yamaha);
3. Camier (Aprilia)

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS:

Riders

1. Checa (Ducati) 91;
2. Melandri (Yamaha) 72;
3. Haslam (BMW) 53;
4. Biaggi (Aprilia) 49;
5. Smrz (Ducati) 42;
6. Rea (Honda) 38;
7. Camier (Aprilia) 37;
8. Fabrizio (Suzuki) 27

Manufacturers

Ducati 95;
Yamaha 74;
Aprilia 66;
BMW 53;
Honda 38;
Kawasaki 32;
Suzuki 27