Ducati News Today

After setting a blistering pace in qualifying that smashed the track record, Althea Ducati’s Carlos Checa, looked set for double victories at the US round of the World Superbike Championship at Miller Motorsports Park at Salt Lake City, Utah. However his hopes were dashed as his bike failed him twice whilst comfortably in the lead. By contrast Noriyuki Haga had his best meeting since Valencia.

Checa had been fourth fastest in the qualifying sessions but was a revelation in Superpole, serially breaking the track qualifying record as he almost got into the 1’46′s, despite his bike being as much as 15km/h (10mph) slower than the jet Aprilia’s down the straight. The race loomed as a foregone conclusion and sure enough, Carlos leaped away to what was looking like an unassailable lead, breaking the lap record of Ben Spies, until his bike suddenly slowed on the straight.

Incredibly, a snapped cable from his fly-by-wire throttle was to blame and with no cable backup, it was game over. Amazingly race 2 was a repeat. Again, Checa bounded away, again taking fastest lap only to slow and retire. This time, the official exclamation was a mechanical fault but there was no puff of smoke or indication of this. It makes you wonder if it was the same problem occurring once again? Carlos took the disappointment philosophically.

“Everything went well: the work, the preparation, the performance, the passion, the race, the team…”, he said. “Yet unfortunately the results did not come. “It’s never happened before! We were strong and I will leave here with my head held high. I will immediately turn the page and concentrate on the upcoming tests in Misano and the next race, where I know we can do well. That’s racing…”

link: Crash.net

On the other hand, things faired better for Xerox Ducati star Noriyuki Haga who had his best result of the season since his victory at Valencia, at a track he has had nothing but bad luck at, returning to the podium with 3rd in race 1 and taking 4th place in the second.

“I’m really happy to be back on the podium today, but it wasn’t easy!” declared Haga. “At the start of Race 1 I was having trouble pushing but after a few laps the tyres picked up a bit and I was finally able to get past Camier in the final stages. It’s a great result and the first time I’ve been on the Miller podium. In Race 2 I had a similar feeling with my bike but the race was more difficult. I started badly and had to push so hard to make up the lost ground. In the last two years my weekends at Miller have been conditioned by crashes but this year I had a good feeling right from the first exit I made on Friday and this gave me confidence that a podium was possible. I’m satisfied and now we move on to Misano, a circuit where there is no long straight and where the Ducati could be very fast.”

link: World SBK.com

This performance was in contrast to his teammate, Michel Fabrizio, who coming off his Kyalami victory was looking forward to a circuit he has stood atop the podium on every race there to date. Instead he fell in the first race and finished 9th in the second.

As a result of his somewhat gifted double victories, Aprilia’s Max Biaggi now leads the championship by 15 points from Leon Haslam (who crashed in race 1) with Checa 4th and Haga improving one place to 5th.

The next race is Misano on June 27th, a circuit with less emphasis on outright power which the Ducati riders hope will be favorable to them.

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