Checa Stays on Top in Qualifying at Miller Motorsports Park
Henny Ray Abrams | May 29, 2011
TOOELE VALLEY, UT, MAY 29 – Althea Racing’s Carlos Checa (Duc) held onto the fastest time prior to this afternoon’s Superpole session after a rainy final qualifying session set the field of 16 from Saturday’s fastest times, but it doesn’t mean much.Checa’s provisional pole time of 1:48.260 mins. was in no danger of being topped on a rainy day at Miller Motorsports Park. Rain began falling late on Saturday afternoon and hasn’t stopped, though it has decreased somewhat in intensity. But with Superpole certain to be wet, this morning’s session was the more important.Aprilia Alitalia Racing’s Leon Camier was the fastest rider in the wet by a wide margin. His lap of 2:04.901 mins. was .813 sec. faster than the best of Team Effernbert-Liberty Racing’s Jakub Smrz (Duc). Leon Haslam rode the BMW Motorrad Motorsport bike to the third fastest time, with Checa fourth in the rain and 2.835 secs. off Camier’s pace.In the dry, Camier finished second to Checa and one better than teammate Max Biaggi. The only rider on a Japanese four-cylinder in the top five is Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes, fourth fastest. Troy Corser was fifth on the second BMW.
Superbike Qualifying:
1. Carlos Checa (Ducati) 1:48.260
2. Leon Camier (Aprilia) 1:49.055
3. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 1:49.306
4. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1:49.432
5. Troy Corser (BMW) 1:49.552
6. Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1:49.621
7. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) 1:49.683
8. Eugene Laverty (Yamaha) 1:49.708
9. Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki) 1:49.855
10. Ayrton Badovini (BMW) 1:49.881
Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor
Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.
