Carlos Checa chalked up his ninth and tenth wins of the season at Silverstone on Sunday to reclaim a commanding lead in the championship standings and give Italian manufacturer Ducati their milestone 300th Worldsuperbike victory in race one and later their 301st in the following contest.
Positioning himself in fourth early on in race one, the Spaniard made his way into the lead by lap seven, having meticulously picked his way past, John Hopkins (a Suzuki wild-card entry who’d surprised everyone with his superpole victory the day before), Noriyuki Haga (PATA Aprilia), and Eugene Laverty (Yamaha). With Checa comfortably on his way to victory and Laverty unmolested in second, a battle raged for third between Haga, Hopkins, Marco Melandri (Yamaha) and local boy Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia). But Haga crashed out on lap 10 and Camier suffered mechanical problems that dropped him back to 15th and gifted Melandri, who’d passed Hopkins on lap 12, the final podium spot with just three laps remaining. BMW rider Leon Haslam made a late race charge to cross the finish line in fourth, almost 4 seconds ahead of the American Hopkins. Meanwhile defending champion Max Biaggi struggled to finish well off the pace in 11th.
Race two saw the identical podium as race one, with Laverty again immediately jumping into the lead, but Checa taking command on lap seven. Biaggi redeemed himself somewhat by finishing fourth this time (after losing the fight for third to Melandri), but with the series going into summer break and with just 4 rounds remaining, the 2010 champion now finds himself 62 points behind Checa in the overall standings and just nine ahead of Melandri.
The next round takes place September 4 at the Nürburgring in Germany.
WSBK Silverstone – Race one results
1. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R 38mins 06.477s
2. Eugene Laverty IRL Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 +3.304s
3. Marco Melandri ITA Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 +4.782s
4. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR +7.116s
5. John Hopkins USA Samsung Suzuki GSX-R1000 +11.057s
6. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +21.899
7. Joan Lascorz ESP Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +22.308s
8. Maxime Berger FRA Supersonic Ducati 1098R +22.734s
9. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +25.491s
10. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia S1000RR +25.725s
11. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +25.844s
12. James Toselandi GBR BMW Italia S1000RR +45.578s
13. Roberto Rolfo ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +51.650s
14. Jon Kirkham GBR Samsung Suzuki GSX-R1000 +57.310s
15. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +1min 36.457s
Not Classified
16. Fabrizio Lai ITA Castrol Honda CBR1000RR 12 laps completed
17. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 10 laps completed
18. Noriyuki Haga JPN PATA Aprilia RSV-4 9 laps completed
19. Jakub Smrz CZE Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R 6 laps completed
20. Alex Lowes GBR Castrol Honda CBR1000RR 5 laps completed
21. Michel Fabrizio ITA Suzuki Alstare GSX-R1000 0 laps completed
DNS Tom Sykes
WSBK Silverstone – Race two results
1. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R 38mins 03.361s
2. Eugene Laverty IRL Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 +2.274s
3. Marco Melandri ITA Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 +3.675s
4. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +3.8960s
5. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +4.405s
6. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +10.958
7. John Hopkins USA Samsung Suzuki GSX-R1000 +11.387s
8. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR +11.496s
9. Michel Fabrizio ITA Suzuki Alstare GSX-R1000 +12.247s
10. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia S1000RR +19.705s
11. Jakub Smrz CZE Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +19.753s
12. Maxime Berger FRA Supersonic Ducati 1098R +21.582s
13. James Toseland GBR BMW Italia S1000RR +27.235s
14. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +30.702s
15. Jon Kirkham GBR Samsung Suzuki GSX-R1000 +42.579s
16. Fabrizio Lai ITA Castrol Honda CBR1000RR +43.420s
Not Classified
17. Roberto Rolfo ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 16 laps completed
18. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR 12 laps completed
19. Alex Lowes GBR Castrol Honda CBR1000RR 7 laps completed
20. Joan Lascorz ESP Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 6 laps completed
21. Noriyuki Haga JPN PATA Aprilia RSV-4 4 laps completed
2011 WSBK Championship Standings
1 Carlos Checa Althea Ducati 343
2 Max Biaggi Aprilia Alitalia Racing 281
3 Marco Melandri Yamaha WSBK 272
4 Eugene Laverty Yamaha WSBK 208
5 Leon Haslam BMW Motorrad Motorsport 158
6 Leon Camier Aprilia Alitalia Racing 146
7 Michel Fabrizio Team Suzuki Alstare 141
8 Ayrton Badovini BMW Italia 118
9 Sylvain Guintoli Effenbert Liberty Ducati 109
10 Noriyuki Haga PATA Aprilia Racing Team 99
11 Joan Lascorz Kawasaki Racing Team 97
12 Jonathan Rea Castrol Honda 94
13 Jakub Smrz Effenbert Liberty Ducati 93
14 Tom Sykes Kawasaki Racing Team 84
15 Troy Corser BMW Motorrad Motorsport 62
16 Rubén Xaus Castrol Honda 44
17 Maxime Berger Supersonic Ducati 36
18 Roberto Rolfo Team Pedercini Kawasaki 34
19 Mark Aitchison Team Pedercini Kawasaki 20
= John Hopkins Samsung Crescent Suzuki 20
21 Chris Vermeulen Kawasaki Racing Team 14
22 James Toseland BMW Italia 10
= Lorenzo Lanzi BMW Italia 10
24 Josh Waters Yoshimura Suzuki 8
25 Matteo Baiocco Barni Ducati 4
26 Alessandro Polita Barni Ducati 3
= Jon Kirkham Samsung Crescent Suzuki 3
= Barry Veneman BMW Italia 3
29 Fabrizio Lai Echo CRS Honda 1
= Alex Lowes Castrol Honda 1
= Viktor Kispataki Prop-Tech Honda 1
= Bryan Staring Team Pedercini Kawasaki 1
