Checa keeps dominating the SBKs and sets the best lap time in the 1st session in Australia

Rider Carlos Checa has dominated the first practice session of the World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island, once again making it clear he is ready for the start of the 2011 season at the Australian circuit, setting a time of 1:31.577, almost three tenths faster than the second-placed rider.

The Catalan continues to dominate the times on the Australian track where the SBK championship will begin this Sunday with two races, in which Checa and his Ducati Althea are without doubt among the favorites, although they will not be alone on track.

Behind him was Sylvain Guintoli on another Ducati, from the Team Effenbert-Liberty who also had a very good pre-season test and continues to confirm his feelings after this first official practice session.

Third place went to Eugene Laverty on his Yamaha, who finished about four tenths behind Checa’s time, and who also showed great pace; while the current World Superbike champion, Max Biaggi, had to settle for fourth position, which is not bad at all considering his results in the pre-season test.

This fourth place is a different story for Biaggi, because until now he had not been able to ride very comfortably in Australia, whereas today he looked much better, finishing half a second behind the fastest rider.

Closing out the top ten were Smrz 5th, Haslam 6th, Fabrizio 7th, Lascorz 8th, Rea 9th and Waters 10th, the surprises were rookie Lascorz, who achieved a good position for his first race in the category, and of course, Rea’s ninth place is also surprising given the crash he suffered a few days ago.

The times are not very good, and it is expected that lap times will come down in the next sessions, and we will see who achieves the superpole in this first round of the 2011 Superbikes.

Times from 1st practice at Phillip Island

1. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) 1’31.577
2. Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing) 1’31.850
3. Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) 1’31.969
4. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) 1’32.009
5. Jakub Smrz (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing) 1’32.066
6. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 1’32.082
7. Michel Fabrizio (Team Suzuki Alstare) 1’32.108
8. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) 1’32.163
9. Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) 1’32.424
10. Joshua Waters (Yoshimura Suzuki Racing Team) 1’32.690
11. Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 1’32.699
12. Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) 1’32.700
13. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike) 1’32.705
14. Noriyuki Haga (PATA Racing Team Aprilia) 1’33.058
15. James Toseland (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team) 1’33.074
16. Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) 1’33.084
17. Bryan Staring (Team Pedercini) 1’33.130
18. Maxime Berger (Supersonic Racing Team) 1’33.176
19. Ruben Xaus (Castrol Honda) 1’33.411
20. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team) 1’33.598
21. Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini) 1’33.788
22. Roberto Rolfo (Team Pedercini) 1’33.864

We will keep a close eye on Superbikes.

Source | MasMoto.net