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Carlos Checa banished the demons of his double non score in last years race to take a comfortable race one win
at Miller Motorsports Park. In fact it was a Ducat one, two, three with Effenbert Liberty Ducati's of Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli following Checa's Althea Ducati across the line.
At the start Max Biaggi used the power of his Aprilia to lead into turn one after the long drag down the straight. However Biaggi's lead was short lived as in fact was his race. Troy Corser on the BMW passed Biagg into turn 2 to take the lead and Smrz, Haga and Checa wasted no time in passing the Italian. Biaggi then did nothing to improve is popularity in the World Superbike paddock when he inexplicably took himself and Jonathan Rea out of the race. The Ten Kate Castrol Honda rider left no doubt as to who he thought was to blame for the accident.
Further back in the field Ruben Xaus carried too much speed into a corner and clipped the curb taking himself and the unfortunate Michel Fabrizio out of the race.
Croser continued to lead but Checa was making steady progress up through the field before passing Corser on lap six and from there he never looked back or put a wheel wrong at least not until after the race was over!
Corser continued to move backwards after that while Eugene Laverty who didn't get the best of starts from the front row moved his way up through the field after being 8th at the end of the first lap. Nori Haga was running in 2nd place for the first half of the race before seemingly losing his way and leaving Guintoli, Leon Camier and Laverty through. Camier then had an unseen moment and dropped from 3rd to 7th. Laverty then wasted little time in moving passed Guintoli for 2nd but was never able to put away and eventually Laverty was repassed by Guintoli with Smrz and Camier also passing the factory Yamaha rider.
The battle for 2nd camer down to the two team mates Guintoli and Smrz with the latter being the stronger in the closing laps posting his fastest lap times over the last two laps to claim a comfortable second place finish while Guintoli scored his first World Superbike podium finish.
The win extends Carlos Checa's lead at the top of the table after 2nd placed in the championship Melandri finished a disappointing 10th. Checa rode the perfect race but his celebration left a lot to be desired as after spotted a flag in the stands tried riding off track to retrieve it and ended up returning to parc ferme minus his bike and with some rather muddy leathers! However that couldn't remove the smile from his face and he will surely go into race 2 confident that he can do the double today.
Be sure to follow @GirlracerWSBK for live timing updates, and follow @GirlracerLIVE and online at www.girlracerlive.com for all the news, trackside gossip and pictures as it happens, live from Miller Motorsport Park. By Mike Evans
Worth Checking - Superbike news - Motogp news
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