WSBK – SBK Phillip Island: Checa wins everything in Australia! –

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SBK Phillip Island: Checa wins everything in Australia !

WSBK - SBK Phillip Island: Checa wins everything in Australia! -

Carlos Checa pocketed the third double of his career last night at Phillip Island! Biaggi could not do anything and yields 10 points to the Spaniard in the provisional classification. On the French side, it’s disillusionment: Guintoli got injured and Foret gave up…

Carlos Checa pocketed the third double of his career last night at Phillip Island! Biaggi could not do anything and yields 10 points to the Spaniard in the provisional classification. On the French side, it’s disillusionment: Guintoli was injured and Foret gave up…

First Superbike Couse

Guintoli completely misses his departure, while Biaggi rushes ahead but is passed by Laverty! Checa is third ahead of Haslam but climbs to second position from the first hairpin. Corser leads the peloton made up of Melandri, Smrz, Rea Sykes, Haga, Fabrizio, etc. Guintoli is only 18th, Maxime Berger "good" last.

Rookie Laverty completes his very first round in the WSBK in 1st place. But Carlos Checa swooped down on him easily, leaving Biaggi to explain himself with the two BMWs and Melandri on the second lap. The Spaniard takes the reins of the race on the 3rd lap in the Honda hairpin.

During this time, our Sylvain starts a comeback that we hope will be dazzling: on the 3rd passage in front of the pits, he is in 12th place, sandwiched between the Kawasaki of Lascorz and Sykes. Not far from there, James Toseland momentarily leaves the track.

In front, Checa widens the gap on Laverty. Biaggi is in the wheel of the Irishman but does not manage to make him the brakes, nor the accelerator! Haslam doesn’t lose anything from the show: he’s in the front row when Max finally passes Eugene at the end of the 5th straight.

Instantly, Aprilia n ° 1 – no, not n ° 3 after all! – goes hunting … The BMW n ° 91 quickly imitates him by easily getting rid of the Yamaha n ° 58. A little further, Melandri tries to stay in contact, followed by the two WSBK experts who have lost none of their ardor: Corser and Haga.

In the 6th lap, Sylvain Guintoli unfortunately disappears from the radar screens … The Drôme pilot has just crashed and cannot start again! Fortunately, the World Superbike offers riders a second chance…

The demonstration of Checa and his 1198R continued: on the 9th lap, the n ° 7 was three seconds ahead of Biaggi. The chase group is six seconds behind: Haslam occupies the 3rd step of the podium, but Melandri, who has just passed his teammate Laverty is threatening.

At only a few lengths, Jonathan Rea serves his teeth: despite his wrist injury, the Honda rider remains in contact with the best! Further on, Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser continue to fight like ragpickers.

The halfway mark has just been crossed and Carlos Checa is still leading the way. Max Biaggi is riding solo, far ahead of Marco Melandri, Leon Haslam and Jonathan Rea. Eugen Laverty begins to let go and is caught by Michel Fabrizio and his Suzuki.

Johnny Rea ends up committing a fault on the 13th lap, leaves the track and sees a handful of points fly away which could prove to be decisive at the end of the season … However, he regains the race, in 13th position.

A few moments later, it was the turn of Supersport prodigy, Joan Lascorz, to make a mistake. But he will not start again in the race. The first Kawasaki in the race is that of Tom Sykes, 10th ahead of Roberto Rolfo.

Checa and Biaggi now have comparable times and the laps follow one another without much suspense. On the other hand, the battle between Haslam and Biaggi continues unabated, under the eyes of Fabrizio and Laverty who hope to join in this fight for the 3rd step of the podium. !

Leon Haslam’s performance is all the more impressive as his teammate Corser loses two places in quick succession in the peloton. The BMW, known for its low revs at the end of the race, will she remain on the podium until the end ?

Two laps from the checkered flag, Leon held on but his three pursuers massed in his wake. Laverty goes back to 5th place and sticks to the pots of Melandri, himself glued to Haslam’s wheel … In the last lap, Haslam heals all his trajectories and lets the two Yamaha fight in her.

Alone in the lead, Carlos Checa and his Ducati won a victory that seemed promised to them for more than a week (and the official tests, read). Max Biaggi and his Aprilia crossed the line more than four seconds behind. The podium is completed by Haslam and his BMW.

Eugene Laverty valiantly whips his R1 and overtakes his teammate Marco Melandri, who was not necessarily so well placed for his first World Superbike race. Michel Fabrizio unfolds towards an encouraging 6th place, very far ahead of Smrz, Sykes, Haga and Corser.

Maxime Berger finished 20th and last in this first race of the 2011 season, nearly one lap behind Checa and 30 seconds behind the penultimate Mark Aitchison. Could do better, that’s for sure … from the second round ?!

Supersport Race

Fabien Foret misses his start, but much less than Florian Marino who remains glued to the grid … Parkes takes the lead in the race ahead of Lowes, Davies, Salom, Scassa, Rea and … Foret, who goes back to 6th place in the first round. Poor Florian Marino rolls in 24th position.

In the second loop, our national Fabien calmly takes his marks and joins Scassa and Salom. In front of this small group, Sam Lowes and his Honda take the lead of the race, at the expense of Broc Parkes and his Kawasaki. Chaz Davies and his Yamaha move up to second in the next lap.

At the start of the 4th lap, Salom and Foret join the leading trio, unlike Scassa and Harms who remain slightly behind and take longer to get back to the front. The rest of the peloton is already dropped: James Ellison, 8th in the race, is more than five seconds behind !

The leading men do not give each other any favors and negotiate many turns at the same time! But Salom raises her voice and tries to pack herself in front of Davies, Lowes, Foret and Scassa. The Italian is more and more urgent and passes the French in the 7th lap.

While the No. 44 Kawasaki effectively manages to isolate itself in the lead, Sam Lowes decides to react, passes Chaz Davies and whips his No. 11 Honda. The Yamaha n ° 7 just doubled is surprised by its twin at n ° 9: Scassa overtakes Davies !

Behind, two seconds behind Salom, Foret struggles but must give way to his fifth place to a Broc Parkes visibly more comfortable on his Ninja. For his part, Florian Marino goes back one by one his opponents: at the halfway point, he is at the gate of the points !

The young rookie of Team Ten Kate gets the first point from 15th place at the end of the 11th straight line. And it’s not over because three pilots are right in front of him !

At the head of the race, Sam Lowes and Luca Scassa do not release the pressure on David Salom! The three pilots precede Chaz Davies and Broc Parkes by a few lengths. Our favorite n ° 99 – Fabien Foret let’s see! – unfortunately slowed down considerably and was caught by Robbin Harms.

With six laps to go, the n ° 11 Honda and the n ° 9 Yam ‘are engaged in a superb duel for first place. The Yam ‘n ° 7 and the two Kawa’ of the Motocard team are not far away and are also actively fighting, to the delight of the public..

In the 16th lap, we see Fabien Foret idling in the pit lane: his rear tire is flat (like Roccoli’s a few loops earlier …)! The Frenchman therefore starts the year with a bubble: it’s very hard for the pilot Ten Kate, who had to fight for victory and intends to win a second world title….

The race continued nonetheless, led drastically by Scassa and Lowes. The two men nibbled a few lengths to their pursuers who are, in order and three laps from the end: Parkes, Salom and Davies.

Then it’s a new twist: Chaz Davies has to retire because of the puncture of his rear tire. The Pirelli do not have to endure high temperatures on Sunday noon, the track is clean … What happens with the Supersport tires: mysteries and balls of "rubber".

The last lap is marked by Lowes’ superb attack on Scassa! The style of the young English Supersport champion is both generous and efficient. Unfortunately for Sam, the Phillip Island finish line is a long way off, so Luca and Broc manage to pass him on the acceleration. !

The first race of 2011 was finally won by Luca Scassa and his Yamaha R6. Second place goes to Broc Parkes and his Kawasaki ZX-6R, third to Sam Lowes and his Honda CBR600RR. Florian Marino finished in a beautiful 7th place.

Second Superbike race

No need to look for Ducati n ° 50 on the starting grid of the second World Superbike race at Phillip Island: Sylvain Guintoli, victim of a fall in the first round got up too dented to take the handlebars of his 1198R! Eugene Laverty therefore inherits 4th place and the rest of the grid is shifted…

Max Biaggi messes up at the start and lets Carlos Checa go. However, it was Leon Haslam and his BMW who took the lead in the race ahead of the Spaniard and his Ducati, the two Yamaha of Laverty and Melandri, the BMW of Corser, the Kawasaki of Lascorz and the Aprilia of Biaggi..

From the first lap, when Haslam and Checa are already moving away, Melandri overtakes his teammate Laverty. Corser, left in ambush, makes short work of them R1 and rushes towards Ducati n ° 7…

In the second round, Checa took the lead and made an effort to isolate himself as in the first round. Haslam is joined by his teammate Corser, but also by Melandri, Biaggi, Laverty and Fabrizio !

Alone in the lead, Checa does not spare his mount: the rear tire of his 1198R does not stop slipping, and even its front tire seems to slip at times. !

No doubt worried by Checa’s flight, Biaggi clashed with Corser to climb to 4th position. The Roman Emperor climbs under the pots of his compatriot Melandri, looks for a fault, shifts to the brakes but stumbles again.

Marco, on the contrary, finds his way to third place, much to Leon Haslam’s chagrin … Immediately, Max imitates the Yamaha n ° 33 and overtakes the n ° 91 BMW. In the following straight line, the RSV4 makes short work of the R1 but Melandri takes back his du in the first sequence of the circuit.

Far from that, more than three seconds away, Carlos Checa stuns the competition by posting the best lap times of each lap – although the "best lap in the race" goes to Max again -! The Ducati rider is decidedly untouchable on the Australian track: the double is reaching out to him.

Behind, Haslam pushes too hard in the braking of the hairpin, goes straight into the loophole and drops from 5th to 7th place. Corser was also the victim of a track excursion and set off again in 9th position behind Xaus. A few moments later, it’s Laverty’s turn to widen in the grass: the Irishman regains the track in 18th place !

The halfway mark is then crossed: in front, Checa is imperturbable, just like Biaggi and Melandri who are 2.5 seconds behind the Catalan leader. With such a podium, you would think you were back ten years earlier … in MotoGP !

Behind this trio of ex-Grand Prix stars, Haslam comes to his senses. He is ahead of Noriyuki Haga on his private Aprilia and Michel Fabrizio on his Suzuki Alstare. Johnny Rea may be physically reduced, he is 4 seconds ahead of Corser, Sykes, Xaus, Smrz and Camier.

Biaggi’s teammate Leon Camier does not demerit either: sick as a dog, he insisted on taking both starts in order to nibble a few points…

While Checa’s solo race continues smoothly, Melandri and Biaggi’s duo race is much more stormy! The two pilots engage, seven laps from the end, in a 100% Italian mano a mano: the final promises !

The two GP 250 specialists performed numerous passes, each more beautiful than the next! Their trajectories cross and intersect – thank you for the superb Australian layout – and neither Marco nor Max wants to delay.

So much so that with two laps of the lowering of the checkered flag, Carlos Checa again has a comfortable lead of three seconds !

Max Biaggi started the last lap in the lead but Marco Melandri did not leave him with a sole. Precise and solid, the Aprilia rider leaves no room for the Yamaha rider … The latter finally climbs, from his second participation in WSBK, on ​​his first podium behind Biaggi and Checa !

Ten seconds later, Jonathan Rea crossed the finish line and obtained an unexpected 4th place, just ahead of Leon Haslam. Leon Camier takes a courageous 6th place ahead of sacred customers: Haga, Fabrizio, Sykes and Xaus.

Sylvain Guintoli absent, Maxime Berger was our only representative in this race. The young rookie, vice-champion of Superstock 1000, finished in 18th place, 55 seconds behind Checa, and 22 seconds behind Laverty who scored the first point of 15th place.

Superpole, victory in the first and then in the second round: nothing – except for the lap records signed by Biaggi! – did not escape Checa during this opening round of the 2011 World Superbike Championship. Faced with such a phenomenon, Max bowed but collected the maximum number of points left "available" (40).

Behind Carlos and Max, Marco Melandri and Leon Haslam shared 3rd place in the provisional with 27 points each. Fabrizio scores 18 points and settles in 5th place, while Jonathan Rea saves the furniture with 17 points scored.

arlos Checa pocketed the third double of his career last night at Phillip Island! Biaggi could not do anything and yields 10 points to the Spaniard in the provisional classification. On the French side, it’s disillusionment: Guintoli was injured and Foret gave up…

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