WSB Moscow: Checa takes charge in Superpole

Carlos Checa secured pole position for tomorrow’s two WSB races at the Moscow Raceway after setting a stunning 1.34.193s lap during Superpole 3. The Spanish rider gained most of his time in the tight and twisty first sector and was also able to exploit the superior grip of the soft tyre on his Althea Ducati, an area where his four cylinder rivals struggled.

Checa said:  “Everything has to come together, my riding, the tyre, the bike; everything worked well and we were able to record the kind of time that we thought might be possible here. My first lap wasn’t great but the second was pretty clean, I made no mistakes and when I saw the time I knew it would be very hard to beat. It’s my first pole of the year, and doing it at this new track in Russia makes it even more special. The races are still to come of course, and my objective is to make a quick start and aim for the win.”

Tom Sykes secured yet another front row start onboard his factory Kawasaki Superbike. Sykes was denied another pole position but remains optimistic for the races while accepting the pace of the Ducati’s at the Russian track.

He said: “I am quite happy to be second in Superpole because this circuit has proven to be quite generous towards the vee configuration engines here. But, having said that Kawasaki have done a fantastic job. We have managed to build and keep building pace all week. For the races tomorrow we should be quite consistent. I am happy with my race package so it was just unfortunate today that the qualifying tyre gave us some small issues, so I had no answers for Carlos.”.

Eugene Laverty made backed up his new found pace from second qualifying to put his factory Aprilia on the front row of the grid – four places ahead of his team-mate Max Biaggi.

Leon Haslam rounded out the front row of the grid with a strong fourth place finish to qualify ahead of team-mate Marco Melandri.

Jonathan Rea put his Honda Superbike on the second row in sixth spot ahead of Biaggi and Ducati rider Davide Giugliano who saw any hopes of a front row start end when he crashed at the start of Superpole3.

1. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’34.193
2. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’34.549
3. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’34.562
4. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1’35.170
5. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1’35.224
6. Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1’35.237
7. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’35.253
8. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’34.973
9. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’35.224
10. Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 1’35.255
11. John Hopkins (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’35.678
12. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1’35.834
13. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’35.629
14. Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1’35.678
15. Sylvain Guintoli (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1’35.689
16. David Salom (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’35.798
17. Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1’36.182
18. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’36.237
19. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1’36.326
20. Alexander Lundh (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’38.163
21. David McFadden (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’38.372