Carlos Checa cruised to an easy victory today at Miller Motorsports Park. Checa’s race was made a little easier early on when Max Biaggi and Jonathan Rea crashed into the mud.
Once Checa took the lead on the second lap, the Ducati rider started to pull away. Checa would lead by more than 5 seconds before he began to slow his pace. Checa would eventually win by .2.7 seconds ahead of Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli.
An ecstatic Checa took a victory lap, but let his celebration get a little out of hand. Checa ruined his flawless race with a nice dip in the mud.
"I was enjoying the glory then took a nice dip in the brown," Checa said.
Checa was on his way to similar results in 2010, but mechanical problems sidelined the Ducati rider.
"It was nice to finish the race," Checa said. "We had some problems last year, but that's just part of racing. Here we did a great job. The bike was running very well today."
Max Biaggi, Jonathan Rea, Michel Fabrizio and Ruben Xaus all crashed this morning and didn't take any points during the first race at MMP. The misfortune of his rivals gives Checa a 46 point lead in the championship standings, but the Althea Ducati rider knows that it is a long season.
"We knew coming in that we had a good chance to get points," Checa said. "But it is too early to think about the championship. There are still a lot of opportunities for points this season."
Behind Checa came two more Ducatis as Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli completed an all Ducati podium. Smrz and Guintoli battled throughout the second half of the race, but Smrz had a little more in the tank in the final laps and took the second place finish by more than a second.
Leon Camier and Eugene Laverty complete the top five.
World Superbike Race Results
- Checa
- Smrz
- Guintoli
- Camier
- Laverty
- Sykes
- Badovini
- Haslam
- Haga
- Melandri
Get live updates from the second World Superbike race at Miller Motorsports Park here.
