Checa stakes his claim

Article from http://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/5-news/6579-checa-stakes-his-claim.html

Results of first qualifying at Phillip Island saw Carlos Checa (Ducati Althea Racing) stake his claim as number 1 favourite for the Superbike wins in the opening round on Sunday. The Spaniard stopped the clocks with a time of 1 minute 31.577 seconds, a tenth quicker than his free practice time of the morning. Another man on the move was Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati Effenbert - Liberty Racing), the Frenchman doing exceptionally well to come within three-tenths of Checa.

An impressive sub-1m32s time was set by Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) in had the satisfaction of finishing ahead of 2010 world champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) in fourth. Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki Alstare) had a harmless crash towards the end and finished seventh, while Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) also finished in the gravel, ending up twelfth.