Carlos Checa (Althea Ducati) is now just three points away from clinching the 2011 World Superbike title, after taking his 12th victory of the season during the second race of the day on Sunday at Imola. Castrol Honda’s Jonathan Rae won the day’s first contest, edging out a late-season-surging Noriyuki Haga (PATA Aprilia) by just 0.111 seconds for his second victory of the season. Checa meanwhile trailed in third, over nine seconds back. Marco Melandri, Checa’s only rival in the championship, found himself caught up in a number of mid-pack battles and finished an ineffectual eighth.
Rae then looked on track to take his third win of the season, after leading strongly from the first turn of race two, but misfortune struck the Honda rider with four laps remaining and Checa was gifted victory after Rae’s machine quit. Haga finished second again — his third podium in four races — and BMW’s Leon Camier placed third, surprising everyone with his first podium since Motorland Aragon in June. Melandri was as far back as 13th at one point, and in 10th position when Checa took the lead — meaning the provisional gap between them was 101 points, enough for the Spaniard to be crowned champion — but the Yamaha rider fought his way up to sixth, narrowing the gap to 97 points and keeping his slim championship hopes alive for another round. Checa needs to earn just three points in the final four races to win the 2011 title.
The next round takes place October 2nd at Magny-Cours, France.
2011 Imola Worldsuperbike Race One Results
1. Jonathan Rea GBR Castrol Honda CBR1000RR 38:03.396
2. Noriyuki Haga JPN PATA Aprilia RSV-4 +0.111
3. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R +9.449
4. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki RTS ZX-10R +9.792
5. Eugene Laverty IRL Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 +14.699
6. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +16.820
7. Jakub Smrz CZE Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +24.227
8. Marco Melandri ITA Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 +24.935
9. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia S1000RR +25.224
10. Joan Lascorz ESP Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +25.487
11. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +26.148
12. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +26.444
13. Federico Sandi ITA Althea Ducati 1098R +29.761
14. Alessandro Polita ITA Barni Ducati 1098R +30.083
15. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +34.862
16. Matteo Baiocco ITA Barni Ducati 1098R +40.331
17. Ruben Xaus ESP Castrol Honda CBR1000RR +44.547
18. Roberto Rolfo ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +50.241
Not Classified
19. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR 8 laps completed
20. Javier Fores ESP BMW Italia S1000RR 6 laps completed
21. Michel Fabrizio ITA Suzuki Alstare GSX-R1000 1 lap completed
22. Maxime Berger FRA Supersonic Ducati 1098R 1 lap completed
2011 Imola Worldsuperbike Race Two Results
1. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R 38:04.538
2. Noriyuki Haga JPN PATA Aprilia RSV-4 +4.631
3. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +15.159
4. Eugene Laverty IRL Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 +17.195
5. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR +17.388
6. Marco Melandri ITA Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 +28.533
7. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +19.615
8. Joan Lascorz ESP Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +20.063
9. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +24.194
10. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia S1000RR +28.485
11. Ruben Xaus ESP Castrol Honda CBR1000RR +28.600
12. Federico Sandi ITA Althea Ducati 1098R +41.802
13. Maxime Berger FRA Supersonic Ducati 1098R +54.750
14. Javier Fores ESP BMW Italia S1000RR +1m 12.281
Not Classified
15. Alessandro Polita ITA Barni Ducati 1098R 19 laps
16. Jonathan Rea GBR Castrol Honda CBR1000RR 17 laps
17. Michel Fabrizio ITA Suzuki Alstare GSX-R1000 10 laps
18. Matteo Baiocco ITA Barni Ducati 1098R 9 laps
19. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR 9 laps
20. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki RTS ZX-10R 7 laps
21. Roberto Rolfo ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 2 laps
22. Jakub Smrz CZE Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R 1 lap
2011 World Superbike Championship rider standings
1. Carlos Checa Althea Ducati 417 points
2. Marco Melandri Yamaha SBK 320
3. Max Biaggi Aprilia Alitalia 281
4. Eugene Laverty Yamaha SBK 256
5. Leon Haslam BMW Motorrad 187
6. Leon Camier Aprilia Alitalia 171
7. Sylvain Guintoli Effenbert-Liberty Ducati 158
8. Noriyuki Haga PATA Aprilia 155
9. Ayrton Badovini BMW Italia 147
10. Michel Fabrizio Suzuki Alstare 141
11. Jonathan Rea Castrol Honda 138
12. Tom Sykes Kawasaki RTS 127
13. Joan Lascorz Kawasaki Racing 125
14. Jakub Smrz Effenbert-Liberty Ducati 118
15. Troy Corser BMW Motorrad 71
16. Ruben Xaus Castrol Honda 49
17. Maxime Berger Supersonic Ducati 45
18. Roberto Rolfo Pedercini Kawasaki 39
19. Mark Aitchison Pedercini Kawasaki 36
20. John Hopkins Samsung Crescent Suzuki 20
21. Chris Vermeulen Kawasaki Racing 14
22. James Toseland BMW Italia 13
23. Lorenzo Lanzi BMW Italia 10
24. Josh Waters Yoshimura Suzuki 8
25. Federico Sandi Althea Ducati 7
26. Alessandro Polita Barni Ducati 5
27. Matteo Baiocco Barni Ducati 4
28. Barry Veneman BMW Italia 3
29. Jon Kirkham Samsung Crescent Suzuki 3
30. Javier Fores BMW Italia 2
31. Bryan Staring Pedercini Kawasaki 1
32. Fabrizio Lai Echo CRS Honda 1
33. Alex Lowes Castrol Honda 1
34. Viktor Kispataki Prop-Tech Honda 1
