Dominant Checa Completes Perfect Weekend at Miller

 

Carlos Checa reproduced his dominant display from race one to take an easy victory in the second race of the day at Miller Motorsports Park.

 

The championship leader made a perfect start from pole position and was never under any threat from behind, taking his sixth win in ten starts this season.

 

Eugene Laverty made a much better start this time around and was up to second at turn one but soon lost that position to the charging Leon Camier halfway around the first lap. The Alitalia Aprilia rider pulled clear of the Irishman to establish himself in a comfortable second.

 

While the no.2 Aprilia disappeared in front of him, Laverty was now under pressure from the no.1 machine of Max Biaggi who was desperate to make up for his accident at the start of race one.

 

On lap six, the Italian breezed past the Yamaha on the 1km start/finish straight to take third but, try as he might, he couldn't narrow the gap to his teammate and had to settle for a safe third. Laverty also had a lonely ride until Michel Fabrizio caught him a lap from the end, the Italian eventually came up short, finishing 0.536s behind in fifth.

 

In a largely processional race, the main excitement would be found further down the field as Marco Melandri was forced to battle hard to keep Sylvain Guintoli and Fabrizio behind them. At half distance, the three of them were running nose-to-tail until the Alstare Suzuki's superior straight-line speed saw Fabrizio pass Melandri and Guintoli in the space of a lap.

 

Jakub Smrz was unable to repeat his race one heroics and was forced to work hard for eighth position. The Czech rider was swallowed up at the start but recovered up to ninth and was chasing the Castrol Honda of Jonathan Rea. On lap 13, it seemed Smrz had made the move stick but Rea would slipstream his way back through as they came past the pits next time around. Smrz fought back at turn four a few moments later and was finally able to shake off the Honda to take eighth.

 

Rea's frustrating afternoon would go from bad to worse as Ayrton Badovini demoted him to tenth on lap 17. Tom Sykes was also becoming a threat and the two Britons would have a thrilling battle over the final three laps.

 

The factory Kawasaki seemed to have the legs in a straight-line as Sykes took tenth into turn one. The Northern Irishman wasn't finished though and made countless attempts to regain the position, including an attempt to ride around the outside of the ZX-10R at the final corner. That move proved unsuccessful though and Rea crossed the line a frustrated eleventh.

 

BMW Motorrad had a nightmare time as Leon Haslam struggled for pace, finishing down in 13^th but Troy Corser didn't even get that far after crashing on the third lap. James Toseland scored his first point since his return from injury in race one but decided not to risk his troubled wrist in race two, not taking the start.

 

Race One Result: 21 Laps

Fastest Lap

Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) 1:48.827

Lap Leaders:

Checa (1-21)

Riders Championship: After Round 5 (United States)