SBK World Championship Misano Round Day 1 Round-Up

Carlos Checa tops the Misano timesheets on day one Misano Adriatico (Italy), June 8, 2012 - Reigning World Champion Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) and former Misano race winner Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) wrestled with the stopwatch at Misano in the first qualifying session of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship, with Checa coming out on top by a slim margin of 0.047 seconds. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) put his four-cylinder third in the rankings, with BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider Marco Melandri making it four different types of machine in the top four places after the first day. Carlos Checa topped the time sheets in day one activities at the Misano round on the #7 Althea Racing Ducati 1098.  Photo courtesy of the SBK World Championship. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati) was fifth with Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) posting another strong result for the Ducati riders, in sixth. Young Frenchman Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) was the top Kawasaki competitor on display today, seventh. Leon Haslam, Melandri’s team-mate, was eighth with Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert Ducati) ninth and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) rounding out the top ten. Despite being fast in the early free session Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) could not make enough improvements to go any higher than 11th, with local man Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia Gold Bet) 12th. Wild card rider for Barni Racing Team Italia, Matteo Baiocco, was 17th. The top 18 riders in first qualifying were grouped together within 1.093 seconds of each other. One more qualifying session will take place tomorrow, before Tissot-Superpole determines the final top 16 grid positions in the afternoon. Times: 1. Checa (Ducati) 1'36.521 average 157.620 kph; 2. Rea (Honda) 1'36.568; 3. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'36.703; 4. Melandri (BMW) 1'36.795; 5. Giugliano (Ducati) 1'36.806; 6. Guintoli (Ducati) 1'36.829; 7. Baz (Kawasaki) 1'36.957; 8. Haslam (BMW) 1'37.009; 9. Smrz (Ducati) 1'37.022; 10. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'37.044; 11. Camier (Suzuki) 1'37.280; 12. Badovini (BMW) 1'37.295; 13. Laverty (Aprilia) 1'37.340; 14. Zanetti (Ducati) 1'37.406; 15. Canepa (Ducati) 1'37.439; 16. Hopkins (Suzuki) 1'37.514; etc. World Supersport Donington race-winner Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) pushed his way to the top of the first qualifying time sheets with a 1 minute 38.987 second lap time at Misano, making him the only rider inside the 1’38s. Second quickest was Kawasaki DeltaFin Lorenzini man Kenan Sofuoglu, ahead of Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Honda Racing Products) and French star Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda). Stefano Cruciani (Puccetti Racing Kawasaki Italia) heads the provisional second row, with Fabien Foret (Kawasaki Intermoto Step) sixth, while Alex Baldolini (Power Team by Suriano) took his three-cylinder Triumph into the top seven, as the last man to set a time under the 1 minute 40 second mark. Sam Lowes on the #11 Bogdanka PTR Honda CBR600RR led all comers in day one activities  in the World Supersport Series timed qualifying at Misano.  Photo courtesy of the SBK World Championship. Times: 1. Lowes (Honda) 1'38.987 average 153.693 kph; 2. Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) 1'39.210; 3. Parkes (Honda) 1'39.265; 4. Cluzel (Honda) 1'39.276; 5. Cruciani (Kawasaki) 1'39.661; 6. Foret (Kawasaki) 1'39.898; 7. Baldolini (Triumph) 1'39.904; 8. Quarmby (Honda) 1'40.143; etc. Superstock 1000 Ducati 1199 Panigale rider Eddi La Marra (Barni Racing Team Italia) secured provisional pole in a closely fought contest for early supremacy in the Superstock 1000 class. Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R), in his first race with the team in place of SBK-bound Baz, rode to second with the cosmopolitan nature of the machinery contest demonstrated by the fact that the BMW S1000RR of Michele Magnoni (G.M Racing) was third in the early rankings. Lorenzo Savadori (Barni Racing Team Italia Ducati Panigale) slotted in ahead of the BMW of Markus Reiterberger (Team Alpha Racing) for fourth place. Marco Bussolotti (SK Energy Racing Team) showed there is still life in the older Ducati 1098R yet by riding his vee-twin to sixth place. Times: 1. La Marra (Ducati) 1'39.634 average 152.695 kph; 2. Guarnoni (Kawasaki) 1'39.701; 3. Magnoni (BMW) 1'39.831; 4. Savadori (Ducati) 1'40.099;5. Reiterberger (BMW) 1'40.279; 6. Bussolotti (Ducati) 1'40.286; 7. Barrier (BMW) 1'40.356; 8. Massei (Honda) 1'40.358; etc. Superstock 600 Points leader and home man Riccardo Russo (Team Italia FMI Yamaha) was the fastest in the first Superstock 600 qualifying run at Misano, in a session which saw a few drops of rain appear right at the end. Kawasaki’s Christian Gamarino (Team GO ELEVEN) was second and Russo’s team-mate Luca Vitali (Team Italia FMI Yamaha) third. Top level Dutch competitor Michael Vd Mark (EAB Ten Kate Junior Team) was fourth and also the first Honda man on the overnight grid. His team-mate Bastien Chesaux fifth and Gamarino’s team-mate Tony Covena sixth. Times: 1. Russo (Yamaha) 1'42.678 average 148.168 kph; 2. Gamarino (Kawasaki) 1'42.801; 3. Vitali (Yamaha) 1'42.805; 4. Vd Mark (Honda) 1'42.855;5. Chesaux (Honda) 1'42.886; 6. Coveña (Kawasaki) 1'42.934; 7. Morbidelli (Yamaha) 1'43.026; 8. Schacht (Honda) 1'43.137; etc. KTM European Junior Cup Austria’s Lukas Wimmer took the top spot in the first practice session for the European Junior Cup at Misano, from Polish rider Adrian Pasek and Spain’s Christian Vidal. Aussie rider Giuseppe Scarcella scored fourth in the rankings, with the qualifying session set for Saturday and a nine-lap race scheduled for Sunday. Times: 1. Wimmer (KTM) 1'53.004 average 134.629 kph; 2. Pasek (KTM) 1'53.225; 3. Vidal (KTM) 1'53.690; 4. Scarcella (KTM) 1'53.743; 5. Wielebski(KTM) 1'54.663; 6. Garcia (KTM) 1'54.999; 7. Orellana (KTM) 1'55.012; 8. Patterson (KTM) 1'55.105; etc. Coppa dei Due Paesi (Two Nations Cup) Experienced rider Denis Sacchetti (SD Rider Team Kawasaki) was quickest on Friday at Misano in the Coppa dei Due Paesi class, with female rider Alessia Polita (Team Trasimeno Yamaha) second, also for Italy. Leonardo Leuthe Biliotti (Team Trasimeno Yamaha) was third, with the first non-Italian rider being Motorpower Honda rider Patrik Vostarek from the Czech Republic in fourth. For further information: Julian Thomas Press Office Associate Manager Cell. +39 340 0993623 Email: julian.thomas@infrontsports.com Nino Barra Press Office & PR ItaliaCell. +39 339 4688138 Email: nino.barra@infrontsports.com Valentina Conti Sponsorship & Int’l PR Associate Manager Cell. +39 388 3032059 Email: valentina.conti@infrontsports.com In 2011 the FIM Superbike World Championship achieved the following: - A worldwide TV audience of 462 million - Live broadcasts on 95 television networks covering 173 countries - 3,106 broadcast hours - Approximately 1,000,000 race spectators - 3,779,237 contacts on the official website www.worldsbk.com