Checa chasing an early coronation

He's been the dominant figure in world Superbike competition all year, and that could all be officially formalised in Italy on September 25

Carlos Checa’s reward for an irresistible 2011 world Superbike season could come early this weekend, with the Spaniard an outside chance to wrap up the championship in Italy with two rounds still remaining.

Ducati-mounted Checa is currently a 74pt leader over Yamaha’s Marco Melandri, and if he comes out all guns blazing at Imola – just like in 2010 when he swept both races – he will go a long way towards wrapping up proceedings irrespective of results at the final two rounds in France and Portugal.

But Melandri is also a proven big-time performer and, on the evidence of testing at Misano last week when he finished on top of the timesheets, the Italian is more than capable of taking the fight to his Spanish rival when action resumes at Imola.

And if things fall apart for Checa at Imola, Melandri will be right back in the championship hunt himself.

“We’ve just completed two very positive days testing and found encouraging results all around," said Melandri. “We made progress with the engine brake which I had been struggling with during the season and hopefully we made a step in the right direction which will help in the remaining three races…”

Checa was second overall at the Misano test, while the other rider still the title race, reigning world champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia), was absent while he continues to recover from a broken bone in his left foot. His participation at Imola is still up in the air.

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 23: Biaggi has now been confirmed as a non-starter at Imola

For the Australian riders, Queenslander Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki) will miss another round as his injury woes continue – despite testing at Misano last week – leaving Troy Corser (BMW) and Mark Aitchison (Kawasaki) to test themselves on the fast and challenging Imola layout, located 40km south-east of Bologna.

Like Vermeulen, Corser’s season has been a disaster, but he still hopes to conjure up a few podiums in the run home – in what could be his WSBK swansong.

“Imola very bumpy in places. It has four different surfaces around it where they resurfaced some parts of the circuit,” said Corser. “It’s very fast, particularly through the back part, which is known as ‘Acque Minerale’.

“It’s important that the bike turns very well on the throttle on the crests coming over the hill and I think this is the case with our bike and engine. The brakes also play a big part there. They help to make the bike more stable.

“I am confident that we can get a good result with our bike. If we can get everything sorted out for Superpole and qualify in the front or second row, I hope we can get some podiums during the run in at the end of the season.”

Meanwhile, if Biaggi is a non-starter at Imola, Yamaha’s Eugene Laverty has a great chance to tighten up the battle for third in the championship, and others expected to fight for podium honours include Leon Haslam (BMW), Leon Camier (Aprilia), Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki), Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati), Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki).

At the last round in Germany, Sykes scored a popular win for Kawasaki when the heavens opened, but he was also very fast in the dry at Imola last year.

In world Supersport, Australia’s Broc Parkes (Kawasaki) simply has to win at Imola to keep his championship hopes alive – and he proved that he’s got his act together with the fastest time in Supersport testing at Misano, albeit among a small band of riders.

Chaz Davies (Yamaha) leads the title on 171pts, well ahead of David Salom (Kawasaki, 112), Fabien Foret (Honda, 111) and Parkes (104).

There will be live coverage of all the action on SPEED, starting a 7:30pm on September 25.

WORLD SUPERBIKE STANDINGS (AFTER ROUND 10 OF 13):

1 Carlos Checa, Spain, Ducati 376

2 Marco Melandri, Italy, Yamaha 302

3 Max Biaggi, Italy, Aprilia 281

4 Eugene Laverty, Great Britain, Yamaha 232

5 Leon Haslam, Great Britain, BMW 176

6 Leon Camier, Great Britain, Aprilia 154

7 Michel Fabrizio, Italy, Suzuki 141

8 Sylvain Guintoli, France, Ducati 139

9 Ayrton Badovini, Italy, BMW 134

10 Noriyuki Haga, Japan, Aprilia 115

15 Troy Corser, Australia, BMW 67

20 Mark Aitchison, Australia, Kawasaki 24

21 Chris Vermeulen, Australia, Kawasaki 14

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Checa chasing an early coronation

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