Checa in touching distance of WSB crown
Added on Monday, September 26th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor
Checa in touching distance of WSB crown
Carlos Checa needs just three points to secure the World Superbike championship after a third and first place at Imola yesterday.
The Spanish rider, who has dominated the championship since the opening round, needed to outscore second-placed Marco Melandri by 26 points to claim the title but the Italian’s sixth place finish in race two meant that the champagne was put on ice for the time being.
With two rounds to go in the championship, Melandri can reach a total of 420 points for the season, three more than Checa’s current total of 417. However, with Checa having 12 race wins to his name versus Melandri’s three; the Althea Ducati rider only needs three points to clinch the title even if Melandri wins all four remaining races.
But despite the celebrations being put on hold, Checa was nevertheless delighted with his results after a thrilling weekend in Italy.
“Race one was really exciting, I battled hard with Sykes and it was a clean, fun race,” he claimed. “In the end I was perhaps a little faster than him and I closed in third, an already very satisfactory result.
“Then race two was even more thrilling! I’m sorry for Rea who had the pace to win, and for Melandri who was perhaps a little unlucky this weekend but of course I’m extremely happy to have won here at Imola.
“The championship is not yet over but we are very close to the title. We go on to the next round and what will be, will be. It’s been a perfect weekend, I’m over the moon and want to thank the entire team, Ducati, the sponsors and of course all of the fans.”
