A dazzling Carlos Checa won both races at Imola at the second round of the World Superbike Championship debuting his new white version of his X-lite X-802 Replica, produced and sold with a special "Pack" to celebrate his victory in the 2011 World Championship. Our Spaniard won both races with a fast and constant pace especially in the second half of the races; recovering the points lost in the crash at Phillip Island and he now leads the overall standings of the Championship .
Marco Melandri’s (Nolan X-802) performance was below his expectations as he struggled with gearbox problems in the first race (which at one point caused him to veer off the track at the pit lane entrance) and an annoying chattering issue in the second race (combined with early deterioration of his tyres). Despite these problems, Marco secured a steady 6th and 10th place which allows him to remain in a challenging position in the rankings at 5th.
Unfortunately luck was not with our two Italian BMW Team riders with Ayrton Badovini finishing 15th in both races and Michel Fabrizio retiring twice.
CARLOS CHECA: “Another incredible day, one more that I will never forget! At the beginning of race one I could see that Sykes had a very strong pace but I stuck with him. When I realized that he was beginning to have trouble in certain places, I took the opportunity to get past him. Then I was able to build a small advantage which meant I could finish comfortably ahead. It was all an unknown today with the much colder conditions, we didn’t know what tyre to use but we took the risk of using that which we’d tested during the practice sessions (but on a much warmer track) – it was a risk but it paid off. The second race was very similar to the first. I made a small mistake near the beginning but was then able to find my rhythm. I thank my team, the sponsor and of course the fans – it’s always great to win in Italy and I thank the spectators with whom I share these great emotions.”
MARCO MELANDRI: “I think I could say that it was a negative day for me. We have been struggling with the gearbox and in race one I went straight into the pit lane entrance. Afterwards I was working hard to catch up. My pace was not too far from the top three guys. In race two I had quite a lot of issues with chattering, as was the case at Phillip Island. I could not push properly, and I destroyed the tyres so much more than in race one. I could not do anything. We do not know yet why the bike is changing. We will work on this tomorrow and I hope that we will be able to make some steps forward.”
The World Superbike Championship will resume on April 22 at Assen while the next event is scheduled for next Sunday in Qatar for the start of the MotoGP Championship.
