As usual racing at Phillip Island never lets fans wanting, if Race 1 didn’t disappoint, Race 2 was an absolute thriller.
The Italians have a very pictoresque saying about close racing: “correre con il coltello tra i denti” which literally means racing with a knife between between your teeth and that’s what Carlos Checa did today on his privateer Ducati when he won the race.
The Spaniard who debuted with Althea Ducati Racing had a bad start leaving him in 11th on the first lap, but Checa was a man on a mission after his 7th place in Race 1 began working his way through the pack to join the four front runners to make a last lap move to take the victory in front of race 1 winner Leon Haslam followed by Michel Fabrizio who would take third place on the podium.
Haslam seemed to be heading to his second career victory and the race looked like a perfect photocopy of the first race with Fabrizio closely tagging the Brit and Noriyuki Haga in third moving up from his tenth place on the grid, but it would be former MotoGP and BSB rider Sylvain Guintoli who would snatch fourth place from a fading and aching Haga who took fifth.
Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Jonathan Rea would finish sixth after a battling with with BMW’s Troy Corser who took seventh.
Aprilia’s Max Biaggi would take a disappointing eighth place and Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow and injured James Toseland both managing to stay on their bikes in Race 1, finished in 9th and 10th, respectively.
Chris Vermeulen crashed out again at Lukey Heights hitting the barriers after running as high up as fourth in race 2.
Round 2 of the World Superbike Championship will be back March 26-28 at Portimao, Portugal.
Race 2 Results:1 7 Checa C.
(ESP) Ducati 1098R 34′16.
428 (171,192 kph)2 91 Haslam L.
(GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 0.
3073 84 Fabrizio M.
(ITA) Ducati 1098R 0.
4344 50 Guintoli S.
(FRA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 0.
8375 41 Haga N.
(JPN) Ducati 1098R 3.
4536 65 Rea J.
(GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 11.
5307 11 Corser T.
(AUS) BMW S1000 RR 12.
0268 3 Biaggi M.
(ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F.
13.
0689 35 Crutchlow C.
(GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 14.
40110 52 Toseland J.
(GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 14.
70711 2 Camier L.
(GBR) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F.
14.
74312 67 Byrne S.
(GBR) Ducati 1098R 14.
85113 57 Lanzi L.
(ITA) Ducati 1098R 15.
14314 25 Brookes J.
(AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 30.
94715 88 Pitt A.
(AUS) BMW S1000 RR 41.
85516 76 Neukirchner M.
(GER) Honda CBR1000RR 48.
84417 31 Iannuzzo V.
(ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1′06.
86618 95 Hayden R.
(USA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1′07.
751RET 15 Baiocco M.
(ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10RRET 66 Sykes T.
(GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10RRET 77 Vermeulen C.
(AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10RRET 96 Smrz J.
(CZE) Ducati 1098R Standings after Round 1:1.
Leon Haslam Suzuki Points 452.
Michel Fabrizio Ducati 363.
Carlos Checa Ducati 344.
Noriyuki Haga Ducati 275.
Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki 236.
Jonathan Rea Honda 237.
Max Biaggi Aprilia 198.
Troy Corser BMW 169.
Leon Camier Aprilia 1010.
Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati 911.
Jakub Smrz Ducati 812.
Cal Crutchlow Yamaha 713, James Toseland Yamaha 614.
Shane Byrne Ducati 615.
Max Neukirchner Honda 416.
Tom Sykes Kawasaki 317.
Joshua Brookes Honda 218.
Andrew Pitt BMW 2