Carlos Checa saw his chance of repeating his memorable 2008 double win at Miller Motorsports Park wrecked by an unreliable Ducati today. The Spanish rider overcame a 10mph deficit to Max Biaggi’s flying gear-driven-cam Aprilia and was on target to win and take the 50 point maximum.
Carlos Checa's mechanical woes took center stage at Miller Motorsports Park, instead of a sure double victory.
With a 3.2 second advantage with just three laps to go of Race 1, Checa suffered a ride-by-wire failure on his Althea Ducati and his race was over. In the second outing, Checa once again did all the hard work and was on schedule to win when his Ducati suffered a yet unconfirmed mechanical problem which started with a lack of power and ended with him stopping at the side of the track.
Checa said: "It would have been easy to finish the races in first position as I had already done the most difficult thing of getting into the lead and pulling away. I gave everything I have this weekend but I lost it because of something out of my control.
“From a personal feeling I am okay, but to stop in both races is a feeling that is difficult to digest for me. In the first race the bike just stopped so I think it was some sort of electrical sensor, but in the second race as I came across the line I felt the power go down and it was not consistent. I thought it was not possible for something to happen in both races and then at the end of the straight it stopped.”
Max Biaggi gained from both Checa and Haslam's troubles.
With Checa out, Max Biaggi picked up the pieces and netted his third double win of 2010 and the championship lead. He also played a part in Aprilia’s first ever one/two finish thanks to his teammate Leon Camier finishing second in Race 2.
Biaggi said: “This is a fantastic day for me. It was my dream to make a double win here in Salt Lake City and that’s what I did. I’m very lucky and I think Checa deserves the race wins, he rode very hard and honestly speaking he did deserve it, but racing is racing, sometimes these things happen. It was a hard race with him, we had a good rhythm and a very good pace.”
The big loser of the weekend was former championship leader Leon Haslam. The Alstare Suzuki rider worked hard to claim second in Race 1 after a bad start, but suffered his first crash and race DNF in Race 2 – handing Biaggi the series lead in the process.
The British rider who celebrated his 27th birthday today had to be treated for a badly gashed elbow after the crash which required a number of stitches.
“I’d worked my way up through Rea, Xaus and the other guys, but I was struggling a little bit with grip compared to race one. I’ve looked at the data and I didn’t do anything different compared to the previous lap but the rear just let go and it was a big highside and I came down on my elbow.”
While it was a bad day for Haslam two other British riders excelled with both Leon Camier and Cal Crutchlow securing podiums in Race 2. The two riders who raced each other in British Superbikes in 2008 fought on track with Camier securing second while Crutchlow suffered with tire wear in the closing laps.
In Superport, Kenan Sofuoglu took an emotional victory and then dedicated it to the pro Palestine protestors killed earlier in the day when their boat tried to breach the Gaza blockade. Sofuoglu’s victory brought an end to Eugene Laverty’s run of three wins on the bounce. Sofuoglu now leads the championship standings by six points from Laverty.
Away from the racing itself, WSB's Paolo Flammini met with the championship's top teams and manufactures at Miller and revealed a number of proposed measures to reign in costs and improve racing in the future. Flammini admitted that teams were currently happy with the WSB technical regulations, but revealed there could be some tweaks with the bigger changes happening in World Supersport. The main proposals include the possibility of introducing a limit on the number of engines used throughout a season and increasing the minimum weight limit in WSB. In WSS there could be a move to one bike per rider instead of two and a move to cap the amount of electronics in the class.
World Superbike Miller Race 1 Results:
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 Miller Race 2 Results:
1. Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
2. Leon Camier (Aprilia)
3. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha)
4. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati)
5. Troy Corser (BMW)
6. Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki)
7. Shane Byrne (Ducati)
8. Jonathan Rea (Honda)
9. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati)
10. Luca Scassa (Ducati)
11. Ruben Xaus (BMW)
12. Max Neukirchner (Honda)
13. Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki)
14. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)
15. Broc Parkes (Honda)
DNF Matteo Baiocco (Kawasaki)
DNF Jakub Smrz (Ducati)
DNF James Toseland (Yamaha)
DNF Roger Hayden (Kawasaki)
DNF Carlos Checa (Ducati)
DNF Leon Haslam (Suzuki)
