Carlos Checa did it again at the Misano World Circuit, taking a comfortable victory in race 1 under a sunny Italian sky and his seventh of this seasonThe Althea Ducati rider who currently leads in the standings, had so so start when the lights went out and had to work his way back to the front first battling with Tom Sykes and overtaking him on lap 2, but Max Biaggi was already on a roll and in the lead after taking the position from Leon Haslam on lap 2.
Checa started to reel in Biaggi and on lap 12, the Italian ran slightly wide and uncharacteristically Checa pushed aggressively past Biaggi, almost making contact, but immediately apologized for the maneuver by raising his hand.
From that moment on the Spaniard began putting space between himself and the Aprilia Alitalia rider who tried to match his pace, but whether his ankle injury or due to fading tires (there’s a certain controversy regarding the tires this year) he couldn’t keep up and even risked a trip onto synthetic grass on lap 16, before settling into second place.
Marco Melandri completed the podium and was a massive 17.
124 seconds behind the other podium sitters.
Pole man Tom Sykes was probably the rider who entertained the most in today’s race.
While he didn’t have the race pace to stay with the front runners, he battled with everyone who came past him, often outbraking them, but in the end he claimed and excellent fourth at the final turn on the last lap grabbing the spot from Yamaha’s Eugene Laverty.
Leon Camier claimed the sixth spot after a two crashed in yesterday’s Superpole left him in 16th on the grid, he was followed by Sylvain Guintoli, who gave the Effenbert Liberty some points after team mate Jakub Smrz crashed out.
BMW Italia’s Ayrton Badovini had another excellent preformance on the satellite bike and the only BMW rider to make the top ten after Leon Haslam’s horrific highside and Troy Corser’s retirement on lap 5.
Joan Lascorz took his Kawasaki to 9th and closing out the top ten was SBK rookie Maxime Berger on the Supersonic Ducati.
After this morning’s warm-up crash Jonathan Rea was ruled out of the round.
WSBK Misano race 1 results:01- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – 24 giri in 39’03.
13202- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.
98403- Marco Melandri – Yamaha World Superbike Team – Yamaha YZF R1 – + 17.
12404- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 18.
65205- Eugene Laverty – Yamaha World Superbike Team – Yamaha YZF R1 – + 18.
92906- Leon Camier – Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 21.
00307- Sylvain Guintoli – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 22.
94208- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia – BMW S1000RR – + 23.
11709- Joan Lascorz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 31.
72910- Maxime Berger – Supersonic Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 34.
46611- Ruben Xaus – Castrol Honda – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 36.
68312- Matteo Baiocco – Barni Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 37.
69213- Alex Polita – Barni Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 37.
98414- Chris Vermeulen – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 41.
01615- Lorenzo Lanzi – BMW Motorrad Italia – BMW S1000RR – + 43.
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