Carlos Checa had a heart-breaking defeat in Race 1 at Miller, his Althea Ducati suffereing a mechanical while enjoying a three-second lead at the front.
Max Biaggi inherited victory in the
World Superbike Race 1 at Miller Motorsports Park. The Aprilia ace took over the lead after the front-running Carlos Checa bowed out in the final laps, his Althea Ducati failing him while enjoying a three-second lead. Joining Biaggi on the Race 1 steps was the man he’s chasing for the title, Alstare Suzuki’s Leon Haslam and Ducati’s Noriyuki Haga.
Biaggi jumped out to snare the holeshot, with the Aprilia posting the top speed all weekend. The Italian was followed by Checa and Biaggi’s teammate, Leon Camier. The surprise of qualifying, Jakub Smrz, turned most of Lap 1 with smoke billowing out of his Ducati, the Czech rider pulling off with his engine failing.
Checa, the master of yesterday’s Superpole, made his move on Lap 2, heading off the Aprilias who in turn held off BMW’s Troy Corser. Meanwhile more casualties occurred with Michel Fabrizio binning his factory Ducati and the fifth-place rider Jonathan Rea lowsiding off-track. Rea’s incident included running Crutchlow off into the gravel as well, though the Yamaha man managed to keep things upright. Rea was able to remount, rejoining the race almost 30 seconds back.
Biaggi (3) took the win, gifted via Checa's misfortune. Another Ducati running into problems was Jakub Smrz (96).
Up front Checa and Biaggi extended their lead, with Camier a lonely second. As for fourth, a fantastic battle started with Corser fending off Haga and Haslam. On Lap 5 the Beemer gave way with Haslam taking over and looking at Camier.
On Lap 7 Checa broke the race lap record at 1’48.548 (beating American Ben Spies’ 1’48.768 set in 2009) the feat was beyond brief, however, as three tenths later Biaggi also broke the record at 1’48.097.
Approaching the halfway mark Haslam and Haga began reeling in Camier for the final rostrum position, while Checa kept Biaggi at bay up front. By the time Haslam got around Camier on Lap 15, the Suzuki was eight seconds behind Biaggi’s second-place Aprilia.
With five to go Checa extended his advantage over the Aprilia to three seconds, with Haslam unable to gain ground on Biaggi, though widening his gap over Camier. With three to go, however, Checa’s seemingly-certain victory evaporated when his Althea Ducati coasted to the side with mechanical trouble.
Checa out of the way Biaggi coasted to victory. Haslam took second while Haga vaulted to a much-needed podium, the Japanese ace dispatching Camier in the closing laps. The British Superbike champ settled for fourth, one spot ahead of Corser. Shane Byrne was more fortunate than his Althea Ducati teammate, finishing sixth, with fellow Ducati satellite rider Luca Scass a very solid seventh. Alstare Suzuki’s Sylvain Guintoli and Sterilgarda Yamaha’s James Toseland were a respective eighth and ninth, with BMW’s Ruben Xaus rounding out the top 10.
It was a notable 14th-place finish for Jonathan Rea, gathering two valuable points in spite of lowsiding and rejoining the race at the very back. The Ten Kate Honda man clawed back to dispatch four riders.
The points gap for the front two title contenders grows ever wider, however, with Haslam now only 10 points ahead of the surging Biaggi. Rea continues to hold third, 99 points down on the leader. Checa would have jumped into third save for his bitter Race 1 DNF, instead holding fourth in the points at 141.
Mad Max stands up to celebrate win number one at Miller Motorsports Park, later waiving a pirate flag on the podium.
1. Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
2. Leon Haslam (Suzuki) +4.931
3. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) +6.432
4. Leon Camier (Aprilia) +8.576
5. Troy Corser (BMW) +11.150
6. Shane Byrne (Ducati) +11.243
7. Luca Scassa (Ducati)
8. Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki)
9. James Toseland (Yamaha)
10. Ruben Xaus (BMW)
11. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha)
12. Max Neukirchner (Honda)
13. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)
14. Jonathan Rea (Honda)
15. Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki)
16. Roger Hayden (Kawasaki)
17. Broc Parkes (Honda)
18. Matteo Baiocco (Kawasaki)
DNF Carlos Checa (Ducati)
DNF Michel Fabrizio (Ducati)
DNF Jakub Smrz (Ducati)
World Superbike Championship Points:
1. Haslam - 242
2. Biaggi - 232
3. Rea - 143
4. Checa - 141
5. Tosleand - 132
6. Haga - 122
7. Corser - 116
8. Fabrizio - 95
9. Camier - 95
10. Crutchlow - 91
