Carlos Checa seemed to struggle on the wet Miller Motorsports Park circuit, but the Althea Ducati rider found a way to top the Superpole session and claim the pole position.
Checa, who led the World Superbike riders during the qualifying sessions, couldn’t quite find the pace on the wet track on Sunday morning. Checa finished 8th during the first Superpole session, then slowly made his way up until he was back at the top at the end of the third Superpole session.
“I really like this track,” Checa said. “But the bike, the bike doesn’t like it as much. We had some problems, but we’ve solved them and we’re ready for tomorrow.”
Checa was followed by another Ducati rider, Jakub Smrz, who finished .075 seconds behind the pace setter. Checa and Smrz will be joined by Marco Melandri and Eugene laverty on the front row.
Checa has won four of the eight World Superbike races so far, and has done the double once before at Miller Motorsports Park. But with a pair of wet Memorial Day races, just about anyone could step up onto the podium.
Max Biaggi, who has yet to win a race this year, will start from 7th during tomorrow’s race behind Sylvain Guintoli and Troy Corser. Ayrton Badovini will complete the second row.
You can see the complete World Superbike Superpole results here.
