Checa takes first at Miller Motorsports Park
Honda World Press Release - Jun 2, 2008

 

Checa had won his first career Superpole on Saturday, with a new track best of 1’48.193, but after an indifferent start to the first race he took the lead on lap four and was never headed from then on. The supposed 21-lap race actually ran to 20 laps, after the start was delayed for a few minutes, but Checa kept his nerve after two of his main rivals, Troy Bayliss and Noriyuki Haga, crashed out of contention in separate incidents. Checa himself had crashed in qualifying, but overcame his bumps and bruises to reassert his championship threat once more.

 

In the second race Checa hit the front on lap nine, and eased away to record a margin of victory of 3.5 seconds, easing up at the finish to take a maximum 50 points for his day’s work.

 

Checa is now the clear challenger to long time leader Bayliss, who scored no points today, after one crash and one technical retirement. Bayliss has an unchanged 194 points to Checa’s 166, a difference of 28 points, with more than half a season left to run.

 

 

Checa’s race one success was Honda’s first race win with the 2008 model CBR1000RR Fireblade, and both Karl Muggeridge (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR) in seventh and Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) in tenth joined Checa in the upper regions of the results pages in the opener.

 

In race two Kiyonari was seventh, and he now sits tenth in the championship, on 80 points.

 

Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda Jnr CBR1000RR) qualified a disappointed 25th in his comeback ride, but went 12th in race one, 14th in race two.

 

Roberto Rolfo (Hannspree Althea Honda CBR1000RR) rode injured at Miller, and finished race one 20th, race two 16th and remains on 20 points. He thought he would be more than fit to ride before practice, but he qualified only 28th overall after suffering great pain from his injured shoulder and arm.

 

Gregorio Lavilla (Vent Axia VK Honda CBR1000RR) recovered from a tough qualifying weekend, in which he was only 23rd, to record 13th in race one and then score another point for 15th in race two. He is now 12th, on 63 points.

 

Russell Holland (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR) scored a point in race one after just missing out on Superpole by only one place. In race two he was forced to retire in the pits. Muggeridge went 11th in race two and is now 15th overall.

 

Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR rider Shuhei Aoyama was as high as tenth in race one, but retired on lap 15, and was also forced out of race two. Pridmore had two eventful races, in 21st and 18th places at the end.

 

Checa said:

“It’s been fantastic to take a double win here in the USA. Just at the start of the first race I had some problems with my number one bike and had to use the second one. I felt I had a good start, but then saw the other riders in front of me I knew I had to work hard. When I saw Neukirchner in front I knew I could overtake him and take the lead. In the beginning it was difficult to make a gap, but then I made enough ground. It then was more difficult to control my mind than control the tire. At the end of the race Corser was catching up and I had to concentrate and improve my pace. The last time I won a race was ten years ago and these are my first wins outside Spain. I would like to dedicate them to my friend Wayne Rainey.”

 

The staff of Cycle Matters is interested in your comments about this article. 

 

If you are already a member of Cycle Matters, click on “Comment” at the end of this article to add your comments.

 

You must be a member of Cycle Matters to add comments. Membership is free! 

 

To become a member, click on My Garage, input your profile, and save it. You will receive an e-mail message asking you to verify your membership by clicking on the enclosed link. As a member of Cycle Matters, you are able to post your comments on this and any other article on this website. Log in and share your thoughts with the Cycle Matters community of motorcycle enthusiasts.

Article Comments

« Previous 10 | Add Comment | Next 10 »