Checa on top...but Laverty's not far behind

By Burning Rubber on Feb 25, 11 08:47 AM

SPAIN'S Carlos Checa threw down the gauntlet to his World Superbike rivals after a dominant display in the first day of the opening round.

The Ducati Althea Racing rider was quick to pick up where he left off after Monday and Tuesday's final pre-season tests, shooting straight back up to the top of the time sheets.

And North east favourite Eugene Laverty announced his arrival in the championship after finishing the day third quickest - and a place higher than reigning champ Max Biaggi.

After finishing Friday morning's free practice session at the top of the boards, Checa is clearly looking like the man to beat this season after stealing the top spot again in the afternoon's first qualifying session.

His hot lap of 1.31:577mins was a tenth quicker than his free practice time, although it was slower than his best in this week's earlier tests.

"Basically, we worked with the tyres this afternoon, just to make choices for raceday, " he revealed. "I felt good today but I think the grip was just a little bit less from the racetrack.

"We used the 'big' rear tyre and had similar results to the previous ones, so if we do that I prefer to continue with the existing tyres for now.

"Tomorrow we will just work towards raceday again, do a comparison with the tyres and then do some longer runs on the tyre we expect to use for the race."

Another man on the move was Sylvain Guintoli, who put his Ducati Effenbert - Liberty Racing machine in seconf place, despite crashing out in the morning session. His best time was three-tenths of a seconf off Checa's.
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But it was rookie Laverty who really made heads turn when he posted a lap of 1.31:969mins to claim third, while Max Biaggi brought his Aprilia Alitalia machine over the line fourth fastest.

"I'm very satisfied with my position today," sid a delighted Laverty. "I didn't expect to be that high up in the standings although my aim was to do a 1.31 to get me through to Superpole tomorrow, so I was expecting the lap time but not the position.

"We learnt a bit more today for our race set up but we still need to work on a bit of consistency.

"Thankfully we can now focus tomorrow morning on race set up."

Guintoli's team-mate Jakub Smrz posted fifth best time, and Leon Haslam overcame some early set-up issues to go sixth on the BMW Motorrad Motorsport machine.

Castrol Honda rider Jonathan Rea, who is still battered and bruised from his big testing get offs, was ninth fastest.

World Superbike Championship, Phillip Island Qualifying 1.

1. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R 1min 31.577s
2. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R 1min 31.850s
3. Eugene Laverty IRL Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 1min 31.969s
4. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 1min 32.009s
5. Jakub Smrz CZE Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R 1min 32.066s
6. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 32.082s
7. Michel Fabrizio ITA Suzuki Alstare GSX-R1000 1min 32.108s
8. Joan Lascorz ESP Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1min 32.163s
9. Jonathan Rea GBR Castrol Honda CBR1000RR 1min 32.424s
10. Josh Waters AUS Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 1min 32.690s
11. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 32.699s
12. Marco Melandri ITA Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 1min 32.700s
13. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki RTS ZX-10R 1min 32.705s
14. Noriyuki Haga JPN PATA Aprilia RSV-4 1min 33.058s
15. James Toseland GBR BMW Italia S1000RR 1min 33.074s
16. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 1min 33.084s
17. Bryan Staring AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 33.130s
18. Maxime Berger FRA Supersonic Ducati 1098R 1min 33.176s
19. Ruben Xaus ESP Castrol Honda CBR1000RR 1min 33.411s
20. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia S1000RR 1min 33.598s
21. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 33.788s
22. Roberto Rolfo ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 33.864s