Checa delighted with USA double
Added on Tuesday, May 31st, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor
Checa delighted with USA double
Carlos Checa could not hide his delight at claiming his fifth and sixth victories in this season’s World Superbike Championship, with a double victory at Miller Park that put him 61 points clear at the top of the rider’s championship.
Starting from pole, the satellite Ducati rider recorded a comfortable double success in the USA, with a 2.766 second victory over Jacob Smrz in race one, before easing to a an impressive 7.1 second win over world champion Max Biaggi and his Aprilia teammate, Leon Camier.
The result means that the veteran Spaniard now sits 61 points ahead of Yamaha’s Marco Melandri in the rider’s standings after the first five rounds, giving him a commanding lead in the title race.
“Two amazing wins today, especially after what happened to us here last year,” he claimed. “In race one, I rode cautiously during the first laps as the conditions were a little mixed but after a while I found good feeling with my bike and was really able to push.
“The bike really behaved well despite the slightly strange conditions. I was able to pass those ahead of me, though it wasn’t easy, and then I tried hard to build an advantage. In the final stages I stayed calm, controlled the margin and I did it!
“It was really funny because as I was returning to parc ferme’, I saw some fans who wanted to give me a flag so I went “offroad” to get it only to find thick mud which caused me to crash – the happiest crash of my life I would say!
“The feeling that I had with the bike improved for race two and I could really enjoy the race. It was a wonderful day, especially for my team and for Ducati. I want to thank everybody, my team, Ducati and the sponsors. This was not only a double victory but a moral victory.”
