Checa Takes Assen Race Two

Henny Ray Abrams | April 17, 2011

Althea Racing’s Carlos Checa bounced back from his third-place finish in race one to win his fourth race in six starts, the Spaniard fighting off the advances of World Champion Max Biaggi to win the second of two races at the Circuit van Drenthe in Assen, Holland this afternoon.Checa ended up topping Biaggi by .524 of a second. For Biaggi it was his second runner-up finish of the day in a return to form after the debacle of Donington Park a few weeks ago.Race-one winner Jonathan Rea ended up third in race two, the Castrol Honda rider 3.5 seconds behind Checa at the completion of the 22-lap race.Aprila’s Leon Camier rode to fourth, the Brit well clear of a battle for fifth that went the duration. That spot ended up going to BMW’s Leon Haslam by.459 of a second over Yamaha’s Eugene Laverty with Alstare Suzuki’s Michel Fabrizio another .365 of a second behind in seventh.Noriyuki Haga was less than a second behind Fabrizio in eighth and barely ahead of Team Effenbert-Liberty teammates Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli, the pair rounding out the top 10.The first of the Kawasaki’s was ridden by Tom Sykes to 11th – one spot better than his teammate Joan Lascorz. Chris Vermeulen was a non-starter in race two.Notables missing from the results were crashers Marco Melandri and Troy Corser.After three rounds and six races, Checa’s championship points lead has grown to 43 points over Biaggi, 132-89. Melandri is third with 85 points and Rea is fourth with 79.In World Supersports action, former AMA racer Chaz Davies won the first World Supersport race of his career in a race that was twice red-flagged and restarted.

World Superbike Race 2

1. Carlos Checa (Ducati)

2. Max Biaggi (Aprilia)

3. Jonathan Rea (Honda)

4. Leon Camier (Aprilia)

5. Leon Haslam (BMW)

6. Eugene Laverty (Yamaha)

7. Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki)

8. Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia)

9. Jakub Smrz (Ducati)

10. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati)