Ducati double at Imola Superbikes

Carlos Checa was a force to be reckoned with once more at Ducati's home circuit, posting an emphatic double in the second round of the 2012 World superbike series at Imola.

That put him at the top of the championship, but only just, with 75 points to the 71 of Aprilia veteran Max Biaggi and the 69 of Superpole winner Tom Sykes (Kawasaki), who took two well-deserved seconds at Imola, his best results since his win in Germany last year.

Biaggi missed the podium twice, by narrow margins on each occasion. In each 21-lap race he had to give best to the impressive Leon Haslam (BMW) who was still riding with screws in his foot after his big crash in Australia in late February. This was Haslam's personal best weekend for BMW as well.

RACE 1

Checa waited until half distance to put a move on early leader Sykes but when he did he put in a couple of superb laps, setting a new lap record on lap 13, and moved away to win in some style.

Sykes put in his best performance yet on a dry circuit on the Kawasaki to finish second, with Haslam and Biaggi disputing the final podium place, which finally went to Haslam, by a second from his Italian rival.

Fifth was Biaggi's works Aprilia team mate Eugene Laverty, with long-time fifth place runner Lorenzo Zanetti, on a privateer Ducati just losing out in the end to Marco Melandri (BMW) and Kawasaki rider Joan Lascorz.

RESULTS - RACE 1

1 Carlos Checa (Spain) Ducati 1098R - 38min06.264

2 Tom Sykes (Britain) Kawasaki ZX-10R +3.206sec

3 Leon Haslam (Britain) BMW S1000 RR +5.593

4 Max Biaggi (Italy) Aprilia RSV4 Factory + 6.519

5 Eugene Laverty (Ireland) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +24.662

6 Marco Melandri (Italy) BMW S1000 RR +7.104sec

7 Joan Lascorz (Spain) Kawasaki ZX-10R +27.384

8 Lorenzo Zanetti (Italy) Ducati 1098R +28.299

9 Jonathan Rea (Britain) Honda CBR1000RR +34.067

10 Nicolo Canepa (Italy) Ducati 1098R +35.724

RACE 2

Checa played a strong second card at Imola to take his first double win of 2012, 1.9 seconds ahead of Sykes and the hard-charging Haslam. Sykes set a new lap record of 1 min47.552 to try to get away from Checa on lap seven, but couldn't keep up that pace over race distance.

Biaggi was fourth again, making the quartet of top finishers the same as in Race 1. Fifth this time around was Jonathan Rea (Honda) who was fighting muscle fatigue and bruising from a big highside in practice and did well to survive a trip across the gravel after tangling with sixth-placed Laverty.

Jakub Smrz (Ducati) was a very close seventh, with Leon Camier eighth, the best finish for a Suzuki rider so far this season.

There were five different manufacturers in the top five places in Race 2, with all six represented in the top eight positions and, with the top three riders covered by just six points, the next round at Assen promises to be a cracker

CARLOS CHECA:“It's a big family here for me and I feel like I'm at home, sharing these emotions with all the people! We worked very well this weekend, and it helps us to go ahead in the championship.

“Of course after two wins, my position is getting better, but anyway I just want to think about today and the fantastic moment and the job we did.

Thanks to the team, Ducati and all the fans!”

TOM SYKES:“The ZX-10R has been great, we had pole position and two seconds in the races so I don't think we could have asked for much more. Carlos did a great job today, we had no answer, he was able to preserve the tyre that bit better than us.

“That's something we need to work on but the big picture is that we've got a hatful of points again. If we continue like this I'll be very happy.”

LEON HASLAM:“It was a tough race, the top three got away again and I had to pull them back. I got comfortable behind Tom, thought I could have a go at him towards the end.

“Every time I pushed I got a little bit of chatter and kept losing my line, and had a few big moments on the last few laps, but he rode real good, and Checa rode a fantastic race once again.

“It was the first double podium for BMW so I'm happy about that and we'll take what we've learnt here to Assen. The ankle is a bit sore and I hit a couple of kerbs but for Assen I'll be 100 percent.”

RESULTS - RACE 2

1 Carlos Checa (Spain) Ducati 1098R - 37min57.571

2 Tom Sykes (Britain) Kawasaki ZX-10R +1.936sec

3 Leon Haslam (Britain) BMW S1000 RR +2.969

4 Max Biaggi (Italy) Aprilia RSV4 Factory + 3.346

5 Jonathan Rea (Britain) Honda CBR1000RR +18.925

6 Eugene Laverty (Ireland) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +21.180

7 Jakub Smrz (Czech Republic) Ducati 1098R +21.392

8 Leon Camier (Britain) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +23.797

9 Joan Lascorz (Spain) Kawasaki ZX-10R +24.219

10 Marco Melandri (Italy) BMW S1000 RR +25.599

POINTS (after two of 14 rounds)

1 Carlos Checa (Spain) Ducati 1098R - 75

2 Max Biaggi (Italy) Aprilia RSV4 Factory - 71

3 Tom Sykes (Britain) Kawasaki ZX-10R - 69

4 Leon Haslam (Britain) BMW S1000 RR - 47

5 Marco Melandri (Italy) BMW S1000 RR - 46

6 Jonathan Rea (Britain) Honda CBR1000RR - 40

7 Jakub Smrz (Czech Republic) Ducati 1098R - 30

8 Eugene Laverty (Ireland) Aprilia RSV4 Factory - 29

9 Sylvain Guintoli (France) Ducati 1098R - 21

10 Maxime Berger (France) Ducati 1098R - 20

WORLD SUPERSPORT

Fabien Foret (Kawasaki) took a cool and professional win after 19 laps of competition, his first of the year, and the first for his team in 2012. Sam Lowes (Honda) finished a close second and, after a number of the front-runners fell by the wayside, South African rider Ronan Quarmby (Honda) was third, albeit 17 seconds off the pace.

Roberto Tamburini (Honda) finished fourth - by just 0.004sec - with Triumph rider Vittorio Iannuzzo fifth.

Top South African rider Sheridan Morais was third in the early stages, and even briefly held the lead on lap seven, but crashed out of third on lap 15.

He rejoined in 10th, which was where he finished.

Foret now leads the championship with 45 points to Lowes' 31, with Morais' team mate Kenan Sofuoglu and Quarmby joint third on 25 after the Turkish rider was black-flagged for not taking a ride-through penalty - as was South African youngster Mathew Scholtz.

RESULTS

1 Fabien Foret (France) Kawasaki ZX-6R - 35min44.653

2 Sam Lowes (Britain) Honda CBR600RR +0.574sec

3 Ronan Quarmby (South Africa) Honda CBR600RR +17.266

4 Roberto Tamburini (Italy) Honda CBR600RR +17.270

5 Vittorio Iannuzzo (Italy) Triumph Daytona 675 +22.953

6 Vladimir Leonov (Russia) Yamaha R6 +25.509

7 Balasz Nemeth (Hungary) Honda CBR600RR +30.042

8 Andrea Antonelli (Italy) Honda CBR600RR +32.429

9 Massimo Roccoli (Italy) Yamaha R6 +37.894

10 Sheridan Morais (South Africa) Kawasaki ZX-6R +39.265

POINTS (after 2 of 13 rounds)