The World Superbike riders will be taking to the grid shortly at Miller Motorsports Park for their first race of the weekend. Carlos Checa claimed the pole position yesterday, his fourth this season, and will definitely be the man to beat today in Utah.
Checa was fastest on the dry track on Saturday and fastest in the wet on Sunday. With overcast skies above dry track, Checa will be ready for whatever the weather throws at him.
Carlos Checa will be joined on the front row by Jakub Smrz, Marco Melandri, and Eugene Laverty. Max Biaggi, who did the double at MMP last year, will be starting from 7th. Sylvain Guintoli, Ayrton Badovini, and Troy Corser will join the reigning champ on the second row.
(Hit Refresh To Get the Latest Updates)
The World Superbike grid:
Row 1: Checa - Smrz - Melandri - Laverty
Row 2: Guintoli - Corser - Biaggi - Badovini
Row 3: Haga - Sykes - Camier - Haslam
Row 4 - Rea - Xaus - Fabrizio - Waters
Row 5 - Lascorz - Toseland - Aitchison - Berger
The World Superbike riders will take to the grid in just a few minutes.
The World Superbike riders are on the grid. Umbrella girls, photographers, and mechanics are now making their way off the track.
The World Superbike riders have taken off on their warm up lap. We'll start racing in just a few minutes.
It hasn't rained this morning, but the track doesn't look completely dry. The WSBK riders were riding about 10 seconds off of their dry times on Saturday during the warm-up session this morning.
After a smooth sighting lap, the World Superbike riders are back on the grid.
And they're off!!!
Biaggi jumps off the line and takes the lead. Corser takes the lead after turn 1. HUGE jumps from the back of the grid as Haga is also riding at the front.
Checa now in fourth behind Corser, Haga and Guintoli. Biaggi has fallen to fifth behind Checa.
Two riders are down before the end of lap 1!
Biaggi hits the mud. Biaggi and Jonathan Rea collide and go tumbling into the mud.
Corser - Haga - Guintoli - Checa - Camier - Melandri - Smrz - Laverty - Haslam - Badovini
The top riders are currently lapping in the mid 1'55s.
The top four riders have a little gap in the front. Corser, Haga, Guintoli, Checa.
Checa is the first rider to dip below 1'50. Checa, who holds the lap record at MMP with a 1'48.045 lap time, sets a 1'49.86 on Lap 2.
Two more riders are down. Fabrizio and Xaus are down. Xaus is up and ok, but Fabrizio is still on the ground.
Fabrizio is up and riding off the track on the back of a motorcycle.
Lap 4: Corser - Checa - Haga - Guintoli
Corser crosses the line .3 seconds ahead of Checa. Haga and Guintoli are both less than a second behind the leaders.
Checa dips inside at Blackhawk and takes the lead.
Checa puts in a huge lap. Takes the lead on lap five and puts nearly a second between himself and Corser.
Checa is the only rider lapping below 1'50. Checa puts another .8 seconds between himself and Corser. Checa now leads by 1.6 seconds.
Lap 7: Checa - Corser - Haga - Guintoli - Camier - Laverty - Smrz - Badovini - Melandri - Haslam
Checa now leads by more than two seconds. Haga, Corser, and Guintoli are all battling for second.
Corser drops back to 6th behind Haga, Guintoli, Camier and Lavety.
Checa extends the lead to 3.2 seconds.
Leon Camier runs into the gravel, but is able to bring the bike back on the track. Camier drops from third down to 7th.
Checa is pulling away at the front. Guintoli also has a big of space ahead of Laverty for second place.
Checa has this race in the bag. The Althea Ducati rider now has 5 seconds ahead of Laverty with 10 laps to go. If Checa can keep his bike rubber side down, he should cruise to an easy win at Miller Motorsports Park.
Roberto Rolfo brings his bike to the pits. Looks like a mechanical problem.
Lap 12: Checa - Laverty - Guintoli - Smrz - Haga - Camier - Corser - Haslam - Badovini - Melandri
Checa is starting to slow a little bit. He has plenty of space and is now putting in 1'51 lap times.
Checa has the clear lead. Guintoli, Laverty, and Smrz are all within striking distnace of the podium. Camier is three seconds behind the second group.
Lap 14: Checa - Guintoli - Smrz - Laverty - Camier - haga - Haslam - Badovini - Melandri - Sykes
The gap between Checa and Guintoli has closed to 4.6 seconds. But with 6 laps to go, I don't think there's any chance that anyone catches Checa.
Guintoli and Smrz start pulling away from Laverty.
Camier is hitting 194 mph on the stretch and is starting to catch up to fourth place rider Laverty.
Lap 18: Just three laps to go. Checa has 4.3 seconds ahead of Guintoli and Smrz. Camier overtakes Laverty for fourth.
Smrz and Guintoli are riding side by side down the track. Smrz will have to make a move soon if he wants to take second.
Smrz overtakes Guintoli and puts .5 seconds between them.
Lap 20: Checa has a three second gap as we had to the final lap. Smrz is tarting to pull away from Guintoli.
Looks like we're heading for an all Ducati podium.
Checa crosses the line in first, followed by Smrz, Guintoli, and Camier.
CHECA WINS!
Checa takes the first World Superbike race win of the weekend.
World Superbike Race One Results:
- Checa
- Smrz
- Guintoli
- Camier
- Laverty
- Sykes
- Badovini
- Haslam
- Haga
- Melandri
Full race report to follow.
