Carlos Checa Takes Superpole at Moscow Raceway Round 11 of the 2012 eni SBK World Championship

Checa wins first Russian Tissot-Superpole contest   Moscow Raceway (Russia), Saturday 25 August 2012 – Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) obliterated the previous track best from practice at the all-new Moscow Raceway during Tissot-Superpole qualifying, in readiness for the eni FIM Superbike World Championship races on Sunday. The top 16 riders in Superpole were whittled down to a top eight and Checa proved to be the best of them after the three sessions had been completed, setting a new track best of 1 minute 34.193 seconds. It is his first pole win of the 2012 season but the ninth of his career.     Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) has more poles than anyone else in 2012, seven, but had to settle for second best this time, with two fellow ex-British championship riders, Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing) and Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) also on the front row.     Carlos Checa: “Finally Tom had some problems with the qualifiers because he has been very difficult to beat in Superpole. Here we found good pace and a good lap time with the soft tyres, we interpreted well the line in the slow area. The circuit is a really nice for me, slow and good fun to ride. But it’s really special to be in Moscow, racing here, it seems strange if you look back a long time ago. But things have changed now and it’s a pleasure to be part of that change!”                             Carlos Checa on the #7 Althea Racing Ducati 1098R won the Tissot-Superpole yesterday at Moscow Raceway over Kawasaki's Tom Sykes by .356 seconds.  Photo courtesy of the eni SBK World Championship.     Tom Sykes: “It’s great to be on the front row. All week we’ve been quite consistent and then had to find something last night but we’ve been good today. In Superpole 1 we did a good time on the race tyre but had a couple of problems when we used the qualifier. Carlos has been looking good all weekend and totally deserved that one, I had no answer today.”   Eugene Laverty: “Definitely a big improvement from where we’ve been all weekend, from down in 17th on Friday. We learnt a few things in qualifying and progressed well with the bike. The last time was actually on set used qualifiers. It took a bit of time to get dialed in but we’re looking good for the races tomorrow.”   Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) went fifth; Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) sixth. To make sure the championship battle remains tense, Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) was seventh fastest and well in the leading rider mix. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati) fell in Superpole three and thus starts eighth on the grid.     Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) could not overcome some issues with approach into the final corner and he had to settle for a third row starting position, having had two crashes in qualifying this weekend as well. Niccolo Canepa (Red Devils Roma) was a strong tenth on his privateer Ducati machine, while John Hopkins (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) was 11th and Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) went 12th.     After some top performances in practice and regular qualifying Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Aprilia) dropped to 13th on the grid after opting to save his qualifying tyres for Superpole 2 and 3, and he was unable to remain inside the top 12 riders.     Two 25 lap SBK races are schedule for Sunday 26th August, with close action expected at this impressive new venue in an exciting new country for the eni FIM Superbike World Championship to visit on the championship trail.                                   Tom Sykes, Carlos Checa and Eugene Laverty celebrate during the Tissot-Superpole podium festivities yesterday at Moscow Raceway.  Photo courtesy of the eni SBK World Championship.     Times: 1.Checa (Ducati) 1'34.193average 150.240 kph; 2.Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'34.549; 3.Laverty (Aprilia) 1'34.562; 4. Haslam (BMW) 1'35.170; 5. Melandri (BMW) 1'35.224; 6. Rea (Honda) 1'35.237; 7. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'35.253; 8. Giugliano (Ducati) 1'34.973; 9. Baz (Kawasaki) 1'35.224; 10. Canepa (Ducati) 1'35.255; 11. Hopkins (Suzuki) 1'35.678; 12. Aoyama (Honda) 1'35.834; 13. Davies (Aprilia) 1'35.629; 14. Zanetti (Ducati) 1'35.678; 15. Guintoli (Ducati) 1'35.689; 16.Salom (Kawasaki) 1'35.798; etc.     World Supersport   Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda) put in a new track best lap at the Moscow raceway circuit with a 1 minute 37.347 second lap time to head final qualifying and start Sunday’s 22-lap race from pole position. Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Lorenzini) went a close second after finding his own injection of pace and he will be joined on the front row by Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) and Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Racing Products) as they were third and fourth respectively.   Sheridan Morais (Kawasaki Lorenzini) is fifth after practice with another Kawasaki man, Intermoto Step team rider Fabien Foret, into the top six. Home favourite Vladimir Leonov (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) is seventh after qualifying, earning an important second row starting position. Andrea Antonelli (Bike Service RT Yamaha) took the last spot on the second row.                                 Jules Cluzel on the #16 PTR Honda CBR600RR won the pole yesterday at Moscow Raceway for World Supersport race.  Photo courtesy of the eni SBK World Championship.   Times: 1. Cluzel (Honda) 1'37.347 average 145.373 kph; 2. Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) 1'37.378; 3. Lowes (Honda) 1'37.540; 4. Parkes (Honda) 1'37.565; 5. Morais (Kawasaki) 1'37.711; 6. Foret (Kawasaki) 1'38.034; 7. Leonov (Yamaha) 1'38.062; 8.Antonelli (Yamaha) 1'38.386; 9. Baldolini (Triumph) 1'38.549; 10. Talmacsi (Honda) 1'38.557; etc.     Coppa dei Due Paesi (Two Nations Cup)     Denis Sacchetti (SD Rider Team Kawasaki) maintained his qualifying lead in the Coppa dei Due Paesi class for Superstock 600 youngsters, the Italian heading off the push of Dakota Mamola (Yakhnich Motorsports Yamaha) and Sergey Vlasov (Yakhnich Motorsports Yamaha).   Times: 1. Sacchetti (Kawasaki) 1'42.702; 2. Mamola (Yamaha) 1'42.790; 3. Vlasov (Yamaha) 1'42.937; 4. Rosivall (Yamaha) 1'44.199; 5. Kiselev (Honda) 1'44.795; 6. Prosenik (Yamaha) 1'44.899; 7. Sangiorgi (Honda) 1'45.125; 8.Orlov (Yamaha) 1'46.036; etc.   For further information:   Julian Thomas Press Office AssociateManager 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