ID :
163967
Fri, 02/25/2011 - 12:09
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/163967
The shortlink copeid
Checa continues red-hot Superbike form
Spaniard Carlos Checa has continued to rattle his rivals ahead of this weekend's season-opening World Superbike Championship round.
Checa set the fastest time in first qualifying after demolishing the field in first practice.
The world No.3 reeled off a series of hot laps before eventually stopping the clock with a best time of one minute, 31.577 seconds well under Australian Troy Corser's official lap record.
But, ominously, Checa's time was still one second slower than the mark he set in testing earlier this week.
Checa is Ducati's main championship hope in 2011 following the official withdrawal of the marque's factory team at the end of last year.
"Basically, we worked with the tyres this afternoon, just to make choices for race day," Checa said.
"I felt good today but I think the grip was just a little bit less from the race track.
"We used the big rear tyre and had similar results to the previous ones, so if we do that I prefer to continue with the existing tyres for now.
"Tomorrow we will just work towards race day again, do a comparison with the tyres and then do some longer runs on the tyre we expect to use for the race."
Meanwhile, two other riders managed to join Checa in the 31-second bracket - his fellow Ducati rider Sylva in Guignol and Yamaha rookie Eugene Laverty.
Behind Laverty, the next 15 riders were separated by just over one second, with the block including three Australians - Suzuki's Josh Waters in 10th, BMW's Corser in 11th, and Kawasaki's Bryan Staring in 17th.
Mark Aitchison (Kawasaki) was 21st out of 22 riders.
All seven manufacturers in this year's championship managed to squeeze bikes inside the top 10, which is another sign of just how brutally competitive racing is likely to be in 2011 - starting with Sunday's two 22-lap races at Phillip Island.
April's world champion Max Biaggi set the fourth fastest time in first qualifying, followed by Ducati's Jakup SRZ and last year's pole position man, Briton Leon Haslam (BMW).
Haslam, who shared victories at Phillip Island in 2010 with Checa, crashed at turn two in the final minutes of the session, and Italian star Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki) was another to bite the bitumen at high speed on the 4. 445km circuit.
Both were uninjured but Fabrizio's bike will require some sharp attention after cartwheeling through the outfield.
Fabrizio remains the fastest Suzuki rider on track, but 24-year-old Mildura rider Waters is keeping the Italian within his sights.
"I'm just so thrilled to be in such exalted company," Waters, a former junior dirt track prodigy and the 2009 Australian Superbike champion, said.
Corser's 17th visit to Phillip Island has been an exasperating one, but the 39-year-old veteran feels he's now heading in the right direction.
"We have definitely made improvements with the bike," he said.
"My bike's set-up is now pretty much the same as Haslam's, and my lap times pretty much dropped to the same level of Leon's lap times in the morning."
The second SK qualifying session will be held on Saturday morning before the final jockeying for grid positions in the popular Super pole format at 3pm.
Checa set the fastest time in first qualifying after demolishing the field in first practice.
The world No.3 reeled off a series of hot laps before eventually stopping the clock with a best time of one minute, 31.577 seconds well under Australian Troy Corser's official lap record.
But, ominously, Checa's time was still one second slower than the mark he set in testing earlier this week.
Checa is Ducati's main championship hope in 2011 following the official withdrawal of the marque's factory team at the end of last year.
"Basically, we worked with the tyres this afternoon, just to make choices for race day," Checa said.
"I felt good today but I think the grip was just a little bit less from the race track.
"We used the big rear tyre and had similar results to the previous ones, so if we do that I prefer to continue with the existing tyres for now.
"Tomorrow we will just work towards race day again, do a comparison with the tyres and then do some longer runs on the tyre we expect to use for the race."
Meanwhile, two other riders managed to join Checa in the 31-second bracket - his fellow Ducati rider Sylva in Guignol and Yamaha rookie Eugene Laverty.
Behind Laverty, the next 15 riders were separated by just over one second, with the block including three Australians - Suzuki's Josh Waters in 10th, BMW's Corser in 11th, and Kawasaki's Bryan Staring in 17th.
Mark Aitchison (Kawasaki) was 21st out of 22 riders.
All seven manufacturers in this year's championship managed to squeeze bikes inside the top 10, which is another sign of just how brutally competitive racing is likely to be in 2011 - starting with Sunday's two 22-lap races at Phillip Island.
April's world champion Max Biaggi set the fourth fastest time in first qualifying, followed by Ducati's Jakup SRZ and last year's pole position man, Briton Leon Haslam (BMW).
Haslam, who shared victories at Phillip Island in 2010 with Checa, crashed at turn two in the final minutes of the session, and Italian star Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki) was another to bite the bitumen at high speed on the 4. 445km circuit.
Both were uninjured but Fabrizio's bike will require some sharp attention after cartwheeling through the outfield.
Fabrizio remains the fastest Suzuki rider on track, but 24-year-old Mildura rider Waters is keeping the Italian within his sights.
"I'm just so thrilled to be in such exalted company," Waters, a former junior dirt track prodigy and the 2009 Australian Superbike champion, said.
Corser's 17th visit to Phillip Island has been an exasperating one, but the 39-year-old veteran feels he's now heading in the right direction.
"We have definitely made improvements with the bike," he said.
"My bike's set-up is now pretty much the same as Haslam's, and my lap times pretty much dropped to the same level of Leon's lap times in the morning."
The second SK qualifying session will be held on Saturday morning before the final jockeying for grid positions in the popular Super pole format at 3pm.
