WSBK – WSBK tests: Checa in the lead, the French follow –

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WSBK tests: Checa in the lead, the French follow

WSBK - WSBK tests: Checa in the lead, the French follow -

Certainly in Superbike, Checa dominated the last official tests at Phillip Island, but a certain Guintoli follows him closely! In Supersport, our champion Foret sets the best time and his teammate Marino the fourth… It promises for Sunday !

Tonight at Phillip Island concluded the very last official "winter" tests – albeit on the other side of the planet! – of World Superbike. All the drivers (except one, Chris Vermeulen, read) were present in order to better prepare for the opening round of next weekend…

Indeed, this weekend in Australia finally opens the 24th season of World Superbike: that of the defense of their titles by Biaggi and Aprilia … or the great return of Kawasaki, the revenge of Yamaha, the start – Suzuki’s final, BMW’s rise to power, Honda’s click ?

Anyway, this 2011 season will also be – and above all? – that of the withdrawal of official Ducatis, a first since the birth of the championship in 1988…

But let the Tifosis be consoled: the 1198R are still in the game! So these last two days, Carlos Checa has set the best time of three sessions – out of four in total – during official testing in Australia, at the controls of his "semi-official" Ducati..

"I would say the test went extremely well, we worked well on the tires and I felt good on the bike from the start", summarizes the Spaniard, winner of the second Australian round last year when he was just discovering the Ducati.

"Ducatis always go fast at Phillip Island", recognizes El Torro,"so we will try to make the most of the opportunity and achieve great results on Sunday"…

Worried on his arrival in Australia by his lack of driving during the offseason, Checa was finally extremely quick: with his time of 1’30.578, Carlos not only beats all his little comrades but also sets a new track record. in SBK.

Since 2009, no one – not even Ben Spies or Max Biaggi – had managed to drive faster than our Regis Laconi and his Ducati prepared by the DFX Corse team (stopwatch in 1’31.050 as a reminder) … Unfortunately for our number ° 55 national, records are made to be broken !

"To illustrate a little better the impressive performance achieved today by Checa", offers its legitimately proud and delighted Ducati Althea Team,"Casey Stoner, winner of the 2010 MotoGP event at Phillip Island, also had the fastest time in the race in 1’30.4, only a tenth of a second faster than Carlos and his 1198".

Of course, the team ignores the differences in tires (brands, soft or hard …), periods in the year, track conditions, etc. But the fact remains that Carlos stands out as the driver to beat next weekend. !

Further proof, if necessary, that Checa has achieved a hell of a performance these last two nights – "nights" for us, days for them …: Sylvain Guintoli, second fastest time on a comparable Ducati 1198R, is a little higher six tenths of Catalan !

The French rider, who was at the top of the standings for the first session on Monday, also took advantage of the excellent track conditions the next morning to set his best time, the second in the entire World Superbike tribe..

An encouraging performance for our favorite No.50 who greatly appreciates the fast but twisty course of Phillip Island. Last year, during his very first outing among the big names in the world Superbike, Syl clinched the 5th fastest time in the Superpole and finished his first race in 6th place, ahead of the Ducati de Checa and that of a certain Jakub smrz…

This same Smrz, who now shares his box with Guintoli, has just finished these official tests in a brilliant fourth place! Often well placed in qualifying, "Kuba" has yet to confirm in the race. But it could well be that on Sunday, the Czech pilot will be talked about.

Sylvain’s co-driver is in fact particularly satisfied with his time, because he achieved it without having to use soft tires. The n ° 96 may not yet be completely fixed on the choice of its settings for the race, it ensures "be on the right track"… The one that leads straight to the podium, or even to its highest step?…

Between the two Ducati Liberty figures Jonathan Rea … Or rather, "figured" Jonathan Rea, since the Honda rider suffered a violent fall on Tuesday afternoon, in the third corner – a slight break on the left – of the circuit.

Author of the third fastest time the same morning, "JR" left all fire in the first lap of the last session. "Rea has dislocated the left ring finger (ouch, NDLR) and was transferred to Melbourne Hospital for an x-ray and CT scan of his right wrist ((re-ouch, Editor’s note) ", specifies his team…

Already, during the private testing of his Team Honda Castrol last week, Rea had attacked a little too hard on the same Australian circuit and finished in the set, then in the hospital for a scan of the neck which had been normal . The English pilot has unfortunately relapsed and could do less well this time…

"Spend the night in the hospital to watch over this. The main problem is the left wrist, it is well inflated. Thanks for the nice messages", Johnny indicated six hours ago on his Twitter account … So, will be at the start or will not be?…

Credited with the fifth fastest time, Joan Lascorz is the big – and good for the Greens – surprise of these tests! The Spanish pilot – another one! – who discovers the category and its slick tires, the Ninja ZX-10R and all its electronics are impressive … but not impressed !

"The transition from riding a Supersport around Phillip Island to a Superbike was smooth and gradual", attests n ° 26."It wasn’t easy, but we got better and posted some decent times".

Just like his teammate Tom Sykes, Joan made a mistake in the hairpin Honda. In his misfortune, Lascorz nevertheless had a little luck: "I fell on the right shoulder, so I didn’t hurt my left shoulder which is not quite repaired yet".

The former Supersport race host – with Laverty and Sofuoglu – does not yet know what he will be capable of on Sunday: "I still have to work on my shoulder to regain all my strength". After a good performance in the Superpole on Saturday, a few laps at the forefront will be enough, no ?!

Eleventh Tuesday noon, Max Biaggi narrowly climbed to 6th place on Tuesday afternoon. "Well, we all knew the Ducati was a good bike, capable of winning", analyzed the world champion on Monday evening,"but last year the official drivers did not get the best of it, unlike Checa at the moment".

Everyone is free, first of all, to appreciate the proper tackle intended for Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio, who this year are racing on Aprilia and Suzuki respectively and appear behind the Roman Emperor at the end of the two days of test: in 11th place for Japanese and in 7th – goof, Max! – for Italian.

Anyway, Max la Menace knows he will have to beware of Ducatis on Sunday, which is why he and his team have "worked a lot on the 23 laps"that will count each round…

Absent – without an official word of apology – Monday morning, Biaggi admits to having "still some small problems, but we will do our best as always, the atmosphere within the team is excellent and that helps a lot", assures the n ° 3.

For its part, the Aprilia n ° 2 of Leon Camier was not able to take advantage of these last winter tests to prepare for Sunday’s races: "the young Briton suffers from a fever, which limited his time on the track", announced Monday evening its official website.

Still in pain on Tuesday, he was unable to get back on the handlebars of his RSV4 and ultimately points to a distant 22nd place, frankly not representative of his level. The 2009 BSB champion can do a lot better and he will do it on Sunday, provided he is no longer sick…

Just behind Fabrizio and his GSX-R 1000, the two official Yamaha of Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty make an ultra grouped shot, separated from each other by only 15 small thousandths of a second !

The two Blues – doubly "blue" since they race for Yamaha and are both beginners in this category – are not sure to shine in the race on Sunday, but they cite very different reasons.

Marco, the faster of the two over the two days, does not know if his shoulder will allow him to compete effectively: "the second day was quite hard, I didn’t ride a lot because my shoulder was hurting", notes n ° 33.

Eugene, for his part, may have worked on the race settings of his R1 and declared himself satisfied with it, he is not quite sure he has found the right formula … According to him, Phillip Island is "a funny track that looks like no other and requires special tuning".

So the young Irishman is content to conclude: "I think the smartest will be there at the end of the race". But by the way, aren’t goblins the most mischievous beings there is? If so," Youdjin "may well come out of the game on Sunday !

The Yamaha are not the only Superbikes to evolve in close formation: the BMWs also appear in single file on the timesheet. First of the siblings, Leon Haslam is almost two seconds behind the exceptional Checa, and 1.2 seconds behind our no less excellent Guintoli.

Author of an almost perfect Australian weekend last year riding his Gex, the English seem to have more trouble with his S1000RR … "While I was out of beat this morning, I was only six tenths this afternoon", tried to console himself this morning (very early for us but at the end of the afternoon for him) the vice-world champion.

All the same, the n ° 91 lost the front twice on Tuesday: nothing to put a driver in confidence nor to make his fans hope for great results on Sunday … BMW supporters in general will have to be convincing to transcend their pilots: Haslam is only fourteenth, followed 4 tenths further by Toseland, then by Corser and Badovini.

Maxime Berger for his part finished these tests in 20th place, behind the "wild-card" driver Bryan Staring and the test driver Akira Yanagawa (replacing Chris Vermeulen), but ahead of the two titular drivers of the Kawasaki Pedercini team Roberto Rolfo and Marc Aitchinson.

By hanging on and avoiding mistakes – of youth, we will gladly excuse him – will our second representative be able to reach the Top 15? He doesn’t prefer to think about it too much: "today I didn’t try to complete a quick lap, but I will definitely start on Friday, when the first event of the season starts". Or" Everything in its time ", as the saying goes !

Finally, on the Supersport side too, we can expect great achievements from the Frenchies. Credited with the best time on both days, Fabien Foret proves to the youngsters in the Supersport category that he will have to be counted on this weekend … and this season !

Everything is looking good for our 2002 world champion: "both days were very positive, not only thanks to the best time but because our race pace is good", warns n ° 99 Honda Ten Kate.

"Most importantly for me, I feel good on the bike and I have fun", also points out Fabien. Unless there is a change in the weather, our good old pilot -" very "good but" not that old "! – should fight for victory on Sunday !

In his aspi on the track as in the classification, Florian Marino continues to learn "high speed"! The French rookie put aside his fall to full five last week during the Honda Ten Kate and Castrol private practice: he wrung out the grip, taking the 4th fastest time behind his "Master" and the two Kawasaki of Broc Parkes and David Salom.

Very quickly, the n ° 21 nibbled half a second on his best time, "without attacking too much, then I followed Fabien with a set of new tires and I was able to do a quick lap, still without forcing too much", he describes most simply in the world !

But the little Frenchman remains humble and pragmatic: "I found it hard to get into the rhythm on my own and increase the pace, so I still have work to do this weekend", concludes Florian. We can bet that he will be able to take the right wagon – if not the best! – Sunday for his debut in competition at the highest level. To be followed this weekend in slight delay on Site: stay tuned !

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