SBK
WSBK Valencia: Checa going for best yet at home circuit
03 aprile 2008
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Despite his relative lack of experience in this category of racing, Checa has now climbed to fifth overall in the championship, after adding a sixth to his second place at the Phillip Island round in early March. He knows Valencia well from his days in MotoGP and he can take heart from the fact that James Toseland gave Honda its first World Superbike win at this venue last season, on his way to taking the title itself. Checa's desire for strong performances in front of his home crowd on Sunday is already obvious and his ambition for more podiums has been fired by a positive recent experience at the 4.005km Valencia circuit. Alongside his team-mates, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) and reigning World Supersport champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR Jr) Checa took part in a successful two-day official FGSport test at Valencia between 13 and 14 March. Each rider worked particularly hard to improve their race set-up as all are new to this class and are still getting to know all the secrets of the 2008 CBR1000RR. Kiyonari set 177 laps during the test, Checa 166 and Sofuoglu 135. Roberto Rolfo (Hannspree Althea Honda CBR1000RR) feels positive about his approach to the Valencia race after making great progress at the official test in March. The race on Sunday will mark Rolfo's third World Superbike visit to Valencia, as he chases his first podium finish since his move across from MotoGP in 2006. Gregorio Lavilla (Vent Axia Honda CBR1000RR) has only recently tested his 2008 equipment and was therefore unable to run at the official Valencia practice sessions. He has had to use 2007 equipment in races until now, making his current top ten placing in the championship table a more than respectable early 'homecoming' to World Superbike. A podium regular in his previous WSB career before he entered and won the British Championship, Lavilla is one of several Spanish riders with high hopes of a strong home result on Sunday April 6. Karl Muggeridge (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR) was the fastest rider of all at the Valencia tests in March, running a bike which is still very much under development. Nevertheless, Muggeridge set a new track record best of 1'34.252, on qualifying tyres. Russell Holland (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR) was also at the Valencia test, despite suffering from a nasal infection. Shuhei Aoyama (Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR) and Luca Morelli (Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR) will enter the Valencia round looking for their first points of the year, but did not have the opportunity to test with their peers last month. After his experiences at the FGSport tests, Checa said: "We did a lot of hard work and now we have a clear idea on settings for the race itself. We tried different links, geometry, and front to back balance. Our idea was to do a long run, maybe 20 laps, but we only did 12, but already I can see that we can do 1m 35s laps. We will have new tyres for the race we didn't have for the test so I am looking to improving our pace even more. We grew up a lot during our last test and it has all been quite positive." |
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