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World Superbike
WSBK: Up 6kgs, Down 15kmh, Checa Confident Nevertheless
Despite being at a disadvantage on paper, Carlos Checa enters tomorrow's double-header as the race favorite at Phillip Island.
Althea Racing Ducati's Carlos Checa (Photo: Althea Racing)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: The 2012 Superbike World Championship season opener from Phillip Island, Australia will air back-to-back on SPEED Sunday, February 26 at 2:30pm and 3:30pm ET.
A tragic start to the 2012 World Superbike championship when a serious accident occurred during the Australian championship’s Superstock 600 race this afternoon at Phillip Island, proving fatal for young rider Oscar McIntire, from Queensland, Australia. Team Althea Racing sends its condolences to the family and friends of Oscar McIntire.
Consequently, the Superpole sessions were cancelled and the Superbike riders grid positions were decided according to the combined qualifying times. Team Althea Racing and its riders Carlos Checa and Davide Giugliano will thus line up in third and fourteenth position respectively on tomorrow’s race grid.
Checa and Giugliano, already fourth and third respectively in yesterday’s first qualifying session, were out on track this morning, determined to make further improvement. On a cooler track with respect to yesterday afternoon, nearly all of the riders were able to improve on their times, Checa included. Mid-session the 2011 champion recorded a 1m31.6 that positioned him second behind Sykes on the Kawasaki. Thanks to that time, Carlos qualified in third position. Unfortunately Giugliano was unable to improve on his best time set in first qualifying but the work done yesterday placed him in fourteenth position at the end of qualifying, enough to enter the Superpole, subsequently cancelled.
In the final practice of the early afternoon, both Althea men worked with their technicians to make final modifications ahead of tomorrow’s races. Checa closed the session in second place, Giugliano twelfth.
As explained above, the race grid was determined according to qualifying times, meaning that Carlos will start from the front row, in third position, while Davide will line up on the fourth row, in fourteenth. Both Althea Racing riders feel ready for the first challenge of the 2012 championship.
Carlos Checa:
“First of all I want to send my condolences to McIntire’s family, a terrible tragedy. Superpole was understandably cancelled as a result. As far as my day was concerned, I can say that qualifying went well. We worked once again on finding a strong race pace and the times came down too. We’ll start from the front row based on the qualifying times which is good news for us. Today I was able to find better pace and am therefore pretty confident for tomorrow. Having said that, it won’t be easy, firstly due to the heat and mainly due to the extra six kilos we have on board, especially when we’re losing 15km/h on the straight to the other riders. I will do my best as always and we’ll see.”
Davide Giugliano:
“I was shocked and sorry to hear about McIntire and send my condolences to his loved ones. To talk about how my day went seems inconsequential but I can say that this morning I had trouble riding in such a strong wind. I didn’t expect that and really had difficulty in the conditions. Starting from the fourth row means I need to get off the line as quickly as possible of course and see what I can do. We’ll have to see how hot it is as I seem to go better the hotter it is; I think the temperatures will condition tomorrow’s races.”
A tragic start to the 2012 World Superbike championship when a serious accident occurred during the Australian championship’s Superstock 600 race this afternoon at Phillip Island, proving fatal for young rider Oscar McIntire, from Queensland, Australia. Team Althea Racing sends its condolences to the family and friends of Oscar McIntire.
Consequently, the Superpole sessions were cancelled and the Superbike riders grid positions were decided according to the combined qualifying times. Team Althea Racing and its riders Carlos Checa and Davide Giugliano will thus line up in third and fourteenth position respectively on tomorrow’s race grid.
Checa and Giugliano, already fourth and third respectively in yesterday’s first qualifying session, were out on track this morning, determined to make further improvement. On a cooler track with respect to yesterday afternoon, nearly all of the riders were able to improve on their times, Checa included. Mid-session the 2011 champion recorded a 1m31.6 that positioned him second behind Sykes on the Kawasaki. Thanks to that time, Carlos qualified in third position. Unfortunately Giugliano was unable to improve on his best time set in first qualifying but the work done yesterday placed him in fourteenth position at the end of qualifying, enough to enter the Superpole, subsequently cancelled.
In the final practice of the early afternoon, both Althea men worked with their technicians to make final modifications ahead of tomorrow’s races. Checa closed the session in second place, Giugliano twelfth.
As explained above, the race grid was determined according to qualifying times, meaning that Carlos will start from the front row, in third position, while Davide will line up on the fourth row, in fourteenth. Both Althea Racing riders feel ready for the first challenge of the 2012 championship.
Carlos Checa:
“First of all I want to send my condolences to McIntire’s family, a terrible tragedy. Superpole was understandably cancelled as a result. As far as my day was concerned, I can say that qualifying went well. We worked once again on finding a strong race pace and the times came down too. We’ll start from the front row based on the qualifying times which is good news for us. Today I was able to find better pace and am therefore pretty confident for tomorrow. Having said that, it won’t be easy, firstly due to the heat and mainly due to the extra six kilos we have on board, especially when we’re losing 15km/h on the straight to the other riders. I will do my best as always and we’ll see.”
Davide Giugliano:
“I was shocked and sorry to hear about McIntire and send my condolences to his loved ones. To talk about how my day went seems inconsequential but I can say that this morning I had trouble riding in such a strong wind. I didn’t expect that and really had difficulty in the conditions. Starting from the fourth row means I need to get off the line as quickly as possible of course and see what I can do. We’ll have to see how hot it is as I seem to go better the hotter it is; I think the temperatures will condition tomorrow’s races.”
WSBK: Monza Race 0513
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