Superbikes USA 2011: full ducatista led by Carlos Checa

2023 Author: Nicholas Abramson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 02:44

We already saw yesterday that Carlos Checa it goes like a real missile on the Salt Lake City circuit and on the first race de la Ronda has not disappointed anyone. So the bull has been rediscovered with victory after a bad drink at Monza where the Ducati was clearly inferior. But his 1198 was not the only one that has flown in Miller because the guys from Effenbert-Liberty Racing, who have had such bad luck in other races like Assen, have excelled and have accompanied Checa on the podium with Jakub Smrz second and Sylvian Guintoli third.

This time the weather gave us a break. Well, we better put it in quotes: "a break." Because at a little more than six degrees of temperature the asphalt, which had been soaked the day before, was not for many excesses. We could even see some areas with puddles and full of dirt that forced the riders to put the bike as straight as possible to be able to pass on gas. But conditions are like that for everyone and it was time to give more gas than anyone else.

With the traffic light off the BMW of Troy Corser came out like a real rocket making use of his full potential and ripping the stickers off the Ducati from Checa and the Yamaha from Laverty. The most pessimistic already feared the worst when seeing Carlos lose positions at the start. But he was patient and stayed in fourth place until the tension dropped and they calmed down a bit after a start where everyone tries to get ahead. First lap and the Australian passed the finish line followed by an always competitive Noriyuki Haga, Sylvain Guintoli, Carlos Checa and Leon haslam.

A few meters later Max biaggi, who was quite late and was trying to climb positions, did, what he called, "a Simoncelli" to Jonathan Rea which caused both drivers to spin around in the mud that Miller's gravel had turned into. Bad news for the Castrol Honda team, which continues without raising its head but saw how things would get even uglier when Ruben Xaus, who was trying to enter a curve as if he were driving the Hypermotard, ended up losing control just half a meter before throwing his friend into the paddock, Michel FabrizioThankfully because it could have cost Biaggi a fight like Rea's.

While some tried not to sink into the mud to return to the box Czech began to devise the plan that would lead him to victory. A plan based on calm, on knowing that there is simply superior and that there are enough laps to hunt down the drivers ahead. So Charlie struck the first ax and claimed the first victim; Guintoli and shortly after dedicating another spectacular thrust to Nori Haga, although the Japanese tried to return it, the Catalan ended up prevailing.

The equator of the race was coming and Corser, as has become customary on the S1000RR, he saw his possibilities vanish when he went losing gas little by little until falling irremediably in a thirteenth position. Similarly Haslam was withdrawing from the pursuing group to make way Eugene laverty, Jakub Smrz and Leon camier. After getting out of Haga, Sylvain and Eugene had their pluses and minuses until Smrz arrived to put peace by opening the gap between the three leading Ducati and Camier's Aprilia RSV4 and Laverty's Yamaha R1. Drivers, by the way, who also gave a show when the end of the race approached.

Behind, we had a beautiful group made up of the three BMW's of Ayrton Badovini, Corser and Haslam along with Marco Melandri and Tom sykes where he knew how to wait for the right moment to surprise Leon and Ayrton knowing that Troy could not stand up.

So Carlos Checa was able to calmly pass through the home straight, a tranquility that would not last long because when he approached the stands to get a Ducati flag he sank the front wheel of the 1198 and fell hopelessly into the mud.