Despite setting a new lap record in race one, HANNspree Ten Kate Honda rider, Carlos Checa, took a seventh and a fourth in today’s penultimate 2008 World Superbike championship event at Magny-Cours in France.
The races were won by Noriyuki Haga and Troy Bayliss, the Australian finally securing his third World Superbike championship title as his career draws to a close.
Checa’s team-mate, Kenan Sofuoglu, battled hard in race one for a season’s best ninth place, but the after-effects of his high-speed crash at Vallelunga two weeks ago took their toll in race two as the Turkish rider struggled home in nineteenth place.
Despite a limited amount of dry time on the team’s Honda CBR900RR, guest rider, Martin Bauer, standing in for the injured Ryuichi Kiyonari, took a creditable 17th in race one but crashed out of contention in race two.
Carlos Checa – 7th and 4thIt’s quite strange that we had a different feeling from the test here last week, and I felt quite comfortable in warm-up this morning. In race one we made a risky tyre choice and it didn’t work out the way we wanted. The second race was a little better, although we had a rear stability problem exiting the tighter corners. It was costing me about three tenths of a second per lap and, towards the end of the race, I knew I couldn’t fight for the podium any more.
Kenan Sofuoglu – 9th and 19th The way I was feeling before the weekend, I wasn’t even sure I would be able to compete here with the amount of bruising I had after Vallelunga. After the first race, it was not so much the pain, but I was so tired, and that left me without any energy for race two. I have a month to recover now, and I want to finish the season on a high level in Portugal.
Martin Bauer – 17th and DNFI felt really confident going into race two, after we made the wrong tyre choice in the first race. I was behind Kenan in the second race and he went a little wide at the first right hander. I went inside him but lost the front in the corner and that was it. We went for a harder front tyre and maybe that was the problem. It’s a shame that we didn’t have some more dry laps in practice to find a better setting. Still, I have enjoyed my weekend – it’s been a pleasure to work with such a professional team and I would like to thank them for all their work and to thank everybody else who made it possible.
Ronald ten Kate – team manager:Yes, it’s disappointing after the good test we had here and we were at least hoping to challenge for the podium. In the first race we gambled wrongly on tyres, but the second race should certainly have been better. Kenan showed a lot of determination with his battered body, but he only had enough energy for one race. I’m sorry that Martin crashed out because I believe he could have battled for some points today.
Results – World Superbikes, Magny-Cours:Race 11. N Haga JPN (Yamaha)
2. F Nieto ESP (Suzuki)
3. T Bayliss AUS (Ducati)
7. C Checa ESP (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda)9. K Sofuoglu TUR (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda)17. M Bauer AUT (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda)Race 21 T Bayliss AUS (Ducati)
2 N Haga JPN (Yamaha)
3 T Corser AUS (Yamaha)
4 C Checa ESP (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda)19 K Sofuoglu TUR (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda)DNF M Bauer AUT (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda)Championship points after 13 of 14 rounds:1. Bayliss 385
2. Haga 305
3. Corser, 300
4. M Neukirchner 291
5. Checa 271Final round: Portimao, Portugal – 2nd November
