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WSBK: Checa Edges Biaggi for Superpole at Phillip Island

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Lapping by a very narrow margin over reigning World Champion Max Biaggi, Carlos Checa won the pole position for the 2011 World Superbike season opener at Phillip Island today. Though the Spaniard dominated the testing and practice sessions this week, Biaggi continued to improve his times, and was only .013s slower at the end of qualifying session. Also showing strong results were Sylvain Guintoli and Leon Haslam, who complete the front row for Sunday’s races.

Jonathan Rea rallied after a severe testing crash and his second crash of the day to qualify twelfth, while Leon Camier, suffering from glandular fever, qualified sixteenth and did not make Superpole, a blow for the Aprilia factory team even as teammate Biaggi unveiled his #1 plate.

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Carlos Checa Dominates at Phillip Island Test

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Carlos Checa was fastest overall, with a lap time of 1:30.578, as the final World Superbike winter test ended Tuesday at Phillip Island. That time was also nearly a half second faster than the existing lap record set by Regis Laconi in 2009, and almost 1.3 sec faster than Troy Corser’s race lap record from 2007. In addition to Checa, Sylvain Guintoli, Jonathan Rea, Jakub Smrz, and Joan Lascorz completed the fastest five. Rea’s time from Tuesday morning kept him third fastest despite a crash at Turn 3 in the afternoon that resulted in an injured hand. No word is available yet on the specifics of his injury.

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WSBK: Checa Fastest at First Day of Phillip Island Testing

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Carlos Checa was fastest overall during World Superbike testing Monday at Phillip Island, nearly a second faster than anyone else during the dry running in the afternoon. Monday was a quick day for Ducatis, as Sylvain Guintoli led the morning session and was second fastest overall, while Jakub Smrz was third fastest of the day. Reigning champion Max Biaggi was fourth fastest, with Michel Fabrizio fifth overall. Notably absent was Christopher Vermeulen who will not ride during the test or his home race this weekend, and has been replaced by Akira Yanagawa at the factory Kawasaki team.

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Althea “Don’t Call Us Xerox” Ducati Debuts 2011 Livery

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Last week, in what was an apparently frigid outdoor press call and party, Althea Racing showed off its new 2011 livery. The bike, ridden by Carlos Checa in next season’s World Superbike championship, showcased more red than the team’s livery last season, with “Althea” and most of the blue having disappeared from the bike entirely. While main sponsor Unibat, a battery company, kept its name placement from the 2010 season’s livery, quite a bit of what had been white on the bike was filled in with Ducati red. So much so, the 2011 livery could nearly be mistaken for the 2010 Ducati Xerox livery.

Althea will use the same livery on the Ducati, ridden by Lorenzo Baroni, in both the Superstock 1000 and Italian Superbike championship. According to the team in its press release, “The presentation of Althea Racing’s Ducati gave added value to an already impressive line-up of bikes”, commented Team Principle Luigi Termignoni. ‘The Italian motorcycle manufacturer has always participated in SBK and we are proud to be able to equip Genesio Bevilacqua’s Ducati outfit in 2011.”

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Official: Loris Capirossi to Pramac Ducati

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Finally official after months of speculation, Pramac Ducati has announced the addition of MotoGP veteran Loris Capirossi to its quasi-satellite Ducati team. Signing a one-year contract, Capirex has already been released from his post-season duties with Suzuki, and will ride the green and white Pramac Ducati during the Valencian test in two week’s time.

Suzuki is not expected to replace Capirossi, and has instead forged a deal with Dorna that sees the Japanese company staying involved in GP racing through 2013. There is however some speculation that Hirosihi Aoyama could land on a satellite Suzuki, but that idea seems to be more wishful thinking, then a well formulated plan (the factory Suzuki had a hard enough time keeping up with the satellite squads, so how would a satellite Suzuki fare?).

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Carlos Checa Comes Back to MotoGP, Riding for Pramac Ducati at Estoril And Valencia – Replaces Mika Kallio

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Now before we get ahead of ourselves, we should preface that Carlos Checa is not making a MotoGP comeback, but the former GP rider will ride the last two rounds of the 2010 MotoGP season. Checa has just signed a two-year contract renewal with Althea Ducati, after having a very strong season on the satellite Ducati squad, and has impressed many top-level players in the Ducati squad. The same however cannot be said of Mika Kallio, who looked to be a promising upcoming rider in his rookie year last season, has been an utter disappointment this season, and currently sits last in the standings of full-time riders.

Pramac Ducati, which despite its satellite status is basically the factory training ground for Ducati Corse, has obviously struggled this year as well, and would like to at least finish the season on a high note. Inviting Carlos Checa out to Mugello on Tuesday, the Spanish rider got rewarded for his hard work in WSBK, and took the Ducati Desmosedici GP10 out for a romp. According to the Spanish media, Checa has been given the green light to race for Pramac in Estoril and Valencia instead of Kallio. There has however been no official word from Ducati on the rider switch.

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Rumors

WSBK Silly Season: Haslam to BMW, Fabrizio to Alstare Suzuki, & Haga to an Aprilia [UPDATED]

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UPDATE 3: Michel Fabrizio has signed-on with Alstare Suzuki team for 2011.

UPDATE 2: Leon Haslam has signed with the BMW Factory Squad.

UPDATE: It’s being reported that Noriyuki Haga has agreed to ride with the DFX team on a factory Aprilia RSV4, with  an announcement delayed out of deference to Biaggi’s impending WSBK crowning.

While the MotoGP silly season is just starting to wind down, the World Superbike shuffling of riders is apparently just getting underway. So far this silly season we’ve seen , confirming that he’d be with Ten Kate Honda next season, despite being only two years into a three year contract, which was a strange announcement at the very least.

After Ducati’s little spat with Infront Motor Sports last month, the Xerox Ducati Team will be no more in 2011, leaving factory riders Michel Fabrizio and Noriyuki S.O.L. when it comes to gainful employment, which is where our fist batch of silly season rumors starts us. If Moto.it‘s Carlo Baldi is to be believed (he is the listed press officer for Althea Ducati after all), Haga will find himself on a satellite Aprilia ride, while Michel Fabrizio will go to Alstare Suzuki. If you’re a die-hard WSBK fan you may realize that means that current Alstare Suzuki star Leon Haslam must be finding work elsewhere, with Baldi putting the British rider in the factory BMW squad. Still with us?

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WSBK: Battle for Second Leaves Runaway Finish During Race 2 at Misano

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Hot World Superbike racing continued under the Italian summer sun as Race 2 was underway at Misano on Sunday. The home track for Aprilia looked for Max Biaggi to try for another weekend double, but BMW and Troy Corser set themselves as the team to beat all weekend long. With Corser on the pole, The Emperor had his work cut out for himself, not to mention the fact that the majority of the top WSBK teams had tested at Misano, and brought their A-game this weekend. Check after the jump for all the spoilers, results, and video highlights.

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WSBK: Geriatrics Battle for Race 1 at Misano

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Max Biaggi turned a year older yesterday, making the Italian rider 39 years-old, but he isn’t the only rider on the World Superbike grid that’s whose a bit weathered with age. Battling for Race 1 at Misano this weekend, the old duffs came out of the woodwork, and showed that you can teach an old dog new tricks after all. Get out your walked, and check out all the race spoilers after the jump.

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Question of the Day: Should Ducati Give Factory Support to Althea Ducati and Carlos Checa?

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Our good colleagues over at MotoBlog.it delved into this idea today, and it brings up an interesting issue. At what point does Ducati begin supporting the privateer efforts of Althea Ducati and its rider Carlos Checa?

Checa is of course already has a win under his belt this season, not to mention that he has had very strong and consistent finishes. Checa also leads the factory Ducati riders by 18 (Haga) & 50 (Fabrizio) points…all of which was accomplished on a machine that should be inferior to what Xerox Ducati has been racing, and achieving lesser results with to this point in the season.

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WSBK: Valencia Sees Cal Crutchlow Take His Second Superpole of the Season

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While the MotoGP season kicks off this weekend, World Superbike is making its third stop of the 2010 season, this time at Valencia Spain. Winning his second Superpole of the season, Cal Crutchlow from Yamaha Sterilgarda put his Yamaha R1 into the #1 position. Followed by town favorite Carlos Checa (2nd) and Max Biaggi (3rd). The trio of riders have been very strong so far this year, which the same cannot be said for the factory-backed Xerox Ducati team. Both Haga (11th) and Fabrizio (10th) found themselves knocked out of qualifying after Superpole 2.

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