Checa the fastest Honda rider at the season opener
Honda Motor Co. Press Release - Feb 26, 2008
 
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Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) proved to be the highest Honda race finisher at the first round of the World Superbike Championship in Losail, scoring sixth in race one on his 2008 Honda Fireblade, his World Superbike race debut. The Spanish rider was not quite so fortunate in race two, as he was involved in an early incident on track, and had to fight his way through the pack to 11th. He now sits eighth in the rankings, on 15 points, having qualified ninth in Superpole.
Despite having little time to develop the new machine and his off track excursion, Checa was pleased with his overall performance at Qatar confident the team will quickly have him on the pace.
Checa had this to say; “I feel comfortable overall after my first races. We have to work on the bike’s chassis, but considering the bike has only just arrived and it’s our first race I’m quite positive. I think we can become even more competitive this year. I touched Kagayama on the first lap of the second race when he tried to overtake me and nearly crashed. There was no room for the two of us and I had to go through the gravel and start again from the back of the field. Unfortunately this deprived me of my chance to try and make it closer to the front. The bike was feeling a lot better then it did in race one. The lap times have proved that we can do a lot better.”
In the second 18-lap race of the day Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) showed he had made a good transition from Supersport to Superbike, going tenth, just over a second up on Checa. Sofuoglu scored 12th in race one, making both of his raceday finishes better than his 14th place in qualifying. Sofuoglu is 11th in the rankings as the championship circus leaves Doha for Phillip Island and round two next weekend.
Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) had a tough introduction to global Superbike racing, going 20th in Superpole, 22nd in race one and 19th in race two.
Roberto Rolfo (Hannspree Althea Honda CBR1000RR) posted two points scoring finishes at Losail, 11th in race one and 15th in race two, on a machine which the team has not been able to test extensively before race weekend.
Gregorio Lavilla (Vent Axia VK Honda CBR1000RR) was another double points scorer, thanks to 13th in race one and 14th in race two. Like many of the riders new to the 2008 season, he has had to take some time to adjust to different tyres from those he has been used to recently.
For Karl Muggeridge (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR) and Russell Holland (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR) the Losail weekend was particularly hard, as neither made it into Superpole, nor scored any points on raceday.
Shuhei Aoyama (Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR) was last in each of his first World Superbike races, finding a Superbike heavy to turn and a real handful after a career spent mostly on 250GP-style machines. Luca Morelli (Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR) finished neither race, retiring in the pits on each occasion.
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