WSB Miller: Checa stuns rivals to take second career WSB pole

Carlos Checa stormed to his second pole position of his WSB career with a stunning 1’47.081 lap onboard his althea Ducati this afternoon. The Spanish rider clearly has an affinity with the Salt Lake City track having won both races in 2008.

Checa’s lap time was a significant 0.333 seconds faster than his closest rival Max Biaggi despite his Ducati being up to 10mph slower than the Italian’s Aprilia.

Checa said: “This is a good result for us, the bike is working well and the time was fast. For the races it will not be easy and tyre life will be a factor at the end of the race. It will be possible to start in the 1’48’s but I think we will drop one second by the end of the race.”
Max Biaggi was the best of the rest in second spot and like Checa has shown seriously impressive race pace during free practice and qualifying.

Cal Crutchlow maintained his strong Superpole form to take third onboard his Sterilgarda Yamaha R1 with Jacob Smrz in fourth.

Superpole One

Tom Sykes saw his chances of progressing into Superpole 2 wrecked when he high sided his factory Kawasaki at the start of the session. The 24 year old was able to get back to the pits and out on his second bike. He managed to improve his lap time but it wasn’t enough to get in to the top 16 leaving him in 18th place and on the fifth row of the grid. Sykes will line up alongside team-mate Chris Vermeulen, Broc Parkes and Roger Lee Hayden.
Carlos Checa set the fastest lap of the session with a stunning 1’47.918s lap – 2/10th faster than the previous best. Aprilia mounted Max Biaggi claimed second after joining Checa in the 1’47’s.

Superpole Two

The top six riders in Superpole two all dipped under the 1m 48s bracket with Max Biaggi leading the way ahead of Carlos Checa riding the althea Ducati. Leon Haslam upped his pace considerably to take third ahead of Czech rider Jacob Smrz.
Leon Camier saved his best until last by jumping up from 16th and last to fifth with his fastest lap of the weekend finishing ahead of Cal Crutchlow and Jonathan Rea.
It was also a good session for Xerox Ducati man Noriyuki Haga, Haga has struggled to make an impression in qualifying this year but his eighth place means he graduates into Superpole three with a place on the front two rows guaranteed.
The big losers of the session were Michel Fabrizio in ninth, James Toseland and Shane Byrne. Troy Corser lost valuable time after he crashed out on his first flying lap. He was able to get back to the track after hijacking a marshals Honda CRF150 but finished the session in 15th place and was fined 1000 Euro for taking the marshals bike.

Superpole Three

Five minutes into the final ten minute session Jonathan Rea suffered a horrific crash when he was high sided over the handlebars and subsequently run over by his own bike. Rea was taken to the medical centre where he was treated for a haematoma on his leg and had to have rubber from his tyre removed from his neck area where he was run over.
He said: “It was a nasty crash. I’ve hit my leg pretty bad and it’s badly swollen so I’m having to put ice on it for 20 minutes every hour to try and get the swelling down. I had rubber burned into my skin around my neck which they had to scrape off, but apart from that I’m OK. I’ve got no problem with my race pace.”
Jacob Smrz was another rider who suffered a spectacular crash. The Czech rider had a corner entry high side and was thrown high into the air, but was able to walk away.

1 35 C. CRUTCHLOW GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda Team Yamaha YZF R1 1’38.529 1’39.031 40 1’37.243 1’37.243 157,190
2 52 J. TOSELAND GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda Team Yamaha YZF R1 1’39.656 1’39.939 39 1’37.260 0.017 1’37.260 157,162
3 7 C. CHECA ESP Althea Racing Ducati 1098R 1’38.954 1’38.878 45 1’37.296 0.053 1’37.296 157,104
4 84 M. FABRIZIO ITA Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R 1’38.477 1’38.765 42 1’37.368 0.125 1’37.368 156,988
5 91 L. HASLAM GBR Team Suzuki Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’38.951 1’38.856 47 1’37.401 0.158 1’37.401 156,935
6 96 J. SMRZ CZE Team PATA B&G Racing Ducati 1098R 1’39.027 1’38.292 36 1’37.561 0.318 1’37.561 156,677
7 3 M. BIAGGI ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’39.094 1’38.904 48 1’37.613 0.370 1’37.613 156,594
8 2 L. CAMIER GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’39.621 1’39.228 48 1’38.148 0.905 1’38.148 155,740
————————————————– Superpole 2 ————————————————–
9 99 L. SCASSA ITA Supersonic Racing Team Ducati 1098R 1’39.288 1’39.249 38 1’37.756 1’37.756 156,365
10 50 S. GUINTOLI FRA Team Suzuki Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’39.834 1’39.156 43 1’37.875 0.119 1’37.875 156,175
11 65 J. REA GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR 1’38.687 1’38.665 44 1’37.953 0.197 1’37.953 156,050
12 66 T. SYKES GBR Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’39.336 1’39.467 41 1’38.206 0.450 1’38.206 155,648
13 11 T. CORSER AUS BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000 RR 1’38.896 1’39.147 42 1’38.210 0.454 1’38.210 155,642
14 32 S. MORAIS RSA EmTek Racing Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’39.798 1’39.399 40 1’38.404 0.648 1’38.404 155,335
15 111 R. XAUS ESP BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000 RR 1’39.642 1’39.494 39 1’38.471 0.715 1’38.471 155,229
16 41 N. HAGA JPN Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R 1’39.630 1’39.306 39 1’38.496 0.740 1’38.496 155,190
————————————————– Superpole 1 ————————————————–
17 76 M. NEUKIRCHNER GER HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR 1’40.024 1’39.680 45 1’38.917 1’38.917 154,530
18 67 S. BYRNE GBR Althea Racing Ducati 1098R 1’39.281 1’39.351 44 1’39.037 0.120 1’39.037 154,342
19 77 C. VERMEULEN AUS Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’40.646 1’40.006 37 1’39.317 0.400 1’39.317 153,907
20 23 B. PARKES AUS ECHO CRS Honda Honda CBR1000RR 1’41.216 1’40.555 39 1’40.713 1.796 1’40.713 151,774
————————————————– Others in Grid ————————————————–
21 95 R. HAYDEN USA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’41.054 1’40.981 42 1’40.981 151,371
22 15 M. BAIOCCO ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’42.172 1’41.526 47 1’41.526 150,558