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World Superbike
MOTO: Rider Of The Year - Carlos Checa
That's right, the once unheralded Carlos Checa edged out Casey Stoner and Ryan Villopoto for SPEED.com Motorcycle Racer of the Year honors.
Althea Racing Ducati's Carlos Checa (Photo: Althea Racing)
Casey Stoner enjoyed a magnificent MotoGP World Championship season in 2011, taking 10 wins, 12 poles, and 16 podium in 17 races (only failing to finish on the box when taken out by Valentino Rossi at Jerez). The performance reminded the world just how dominating the Aussie could be, recalling his similarly spectacular 10 win, 14 podium, five pole title run with Ducati in 2007.
Meanwhile, Ryan Villopoto assembled an epic '11 of his own, storming to the Monster Energy Supercross and AMA Motocross 450 titles, while adding more than a little icing by leading Team USA to its seventh straight Motocross of Nations title and sweeping his way to the Monster Million in Las Vegas. After fighting through injuries and misfortune during the majority of his premier class career, 2011 proved to everyone that RV2 really did justify all the hype that really picked up steam during his incredible '07 campaign, in which he marched to the SX West Lites crown, the AMA Motocross 250 Class title, and shocked the world by obliterating all comers on a 250 at the MXON.
In other words, in 2011 Stoner and Villopoto continued to add to their claims as budding all-time greats, further proving their caliber.
Meanwhile, old-timer and once largely unheralded Carlos Checa registered a performance every bit as remarkable over in the Superbike World Champion, beating all odds along the way.
Just a few short years back Checa, now 39 years old, seemed well cemented in the history books as a Grand Prix has been/borderline never was with two home-race wins to his name in 17 seasons of GP racing.
However, the Spaniard is fast making a late claim for legend status himself now that he's found a new lease on life as a Superbike superstar, punctuated by his out-of-this-world 2011.
Checa enjoyed a nice '10 with satellite Ducati squad Althea Racing, collecting three wins and finishing third in the points chase -- the first time in his two decade world championship racing career he had finished higher than fourth in a championship fight.
But he appeared to be facing rather long odds entering '11. Ducati's lame-duck 1098R was expected to be increasingly outgunned against the powerful contingent of fours and a number of formidable factory and importer teams were vying for this year's title while Ducati, once the dominant force in Superbike racing, effectively turned their back on the series, killing their works team while throwing everything they had at an ill-fated run at the MotoGP title with splashy new signing Valentino Rossi. (Checa did receive some backdoor factory help but it wasn't like in the old days of Ducati's works Superbike efforts.)
The GP-esque Aprilias RSV4s proved unstoppable in 2010 and Max Biaggi was motivated to extend his reign. BMW's developing S 1000 RR had big-budget backing and a talented new rider in Leon Haslam, who pushed for the '10 championship with Alstare Suzuki, a team still viewed as a threat with Michel Fabrizio at the controls in '11. Kawasaki had a three-pronged attack and Ten Kate brought back memories of Honda's SBK glory days by taking on the Castrol Honda branding with the gifted Jonathan Rea leading the charge. And there was no overlooking Yamaha either, the team that launched SBK rookies to MotoGP in back-to-back years and was expected to come out swinging once again with two more fantastic froshs in Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty.
Meanwhile, Ryan Villopoto assembled an epic '11 of his own, storming to the Monster Energy Supercross and AMA Motocross 450 titles, while adding more than a little icing by leading Team USA to its seventh straight Motocross of Nations title and sweeping his way to the Monster Million in Las Vegas. After fighting through injuries and misfortune during the majority of his premier class career, 2011 proved to everyone that RV2 really did justify all the hype that really picked up steam during his incredible '07 campaign, in which he marched to the SX West Lites crown, the AMA Motocross 250 Class title, and shocked the world by obliterating all comers on a 250 at the MXON.
In other words, in 2011 Stoner and Villopoto continued to add to their claims as budding all-time greats, further proving their caliber.
Meanwhile, old-timer and once largely unheralded Carlos Checa registered a performance every bit as remarkable over in the Superbike World Champion, beating all odds along the way.
Just a few short years back Checa, now 39 years old, seemed well cemented in the history books as a Grand Prix has been/borderline never was with two home-race wins to his name in 17 seasons of GP racing.
However, the Spaniard is fast making a late claim for legend status himself now that he's found a new lease on life as a Superbike superstar, punctuated by his out-of-this-world 2011.
Checa enjoyed a nice '10 with satellite Ducati squad Althea Racing, collecting three wins and finishing third in the points chase -- the first time in his two decade world championship racing career he had finished higher than fourth in a championship fight.
But he appeared to be facing rather long odds entering '11. Ducati's lame-duck 1098R was expected to be increasingly outgunned against the powerful contingent of fours and a number of formidable factory and importer teams were vying for this year's title while Ducati, once the dominant force in Superbike racing, effectively turned their back on the series, killing their works team while throwing everything they had at an ill-fated run at the MotoGP title with splashy new signing Valentino Rossi. (Checa did receive some backdoor factory help but it wasn't like in the old days of Ducati's works Superbike efforts.)
The GP-esque Aprilias RSV4s proved unstoppable in 2010 and Max Biaggi was motivated to extend his reign. BMW's developing S 1000 RR had big-budget backing and a talented new rider in Leon Haslam, who pushed for the '10 championship with Alstare Suzuki, a team still viewed as a threat with Michel Fabrizio at the controls in '11. Kawasaki had a three-pronged attack and Ten Kate brought back memories of Honda's SBK glory days by taking on the Castrol Honda branding with the gifted Jonathan Rea leading the charge. And there was no overlooking Yamaha either, the team that launched SBK rookies to MotoGP in back-to-back years and was expected to come out swinging once again with two more fantastic froshs in Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty.
WSBK: Monza Race 0513
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