After double tops at the last round at the Miller Motorsports Park, HANNspree Ten Kate Honda rider Carlos Checa had to settle for fifth place today in both races of the German round.
Rain looked likely but it remained dry for the duration of the 20-lap race. From his first row start Checa came 9th through the first corner and started his chase forward. He remained in 7th place for most of the race before overtaking Fabrizio and Xaus in the last laps of the race and claimed 5th place.
Carlos Checa managed to follow a breakaway group of four riders in the second race and profited from a mistake by Bayliss in the 5th lap. Bayliss eventually got the better of Checa and re-claimed his fourth position in the last lap, with Checa concluding the race in fifth.
Teammate Ryuichi Kiyonari struggled throughout both races – he claimed a 12th place in the first race and 11th in the second.
Carlos Checa, race 1 – 5th, race 2 – 5th:
”We didn’t find the right grip here this weekend. We have been working on the setup of the bike to find a better grip, especially in the rear, but didn’t manage. We were on good pace with the qualifier, but on the race tyre we used here this weekend we couldn’t find enough grip.”
“We made some rather big changes to the set up for the second race. I started well and chased the front group, but wasn’t able to keep up with their speed. I had to get off the gas a couple of times to prevent the bike from high-siding. We have done our best. We just didn’t find the same level of grip as our competitors.”
Ryuichi Kiyonari, race 1 – 12th, race 2 – 11th:
”My feeling with the bike was a lot better in the second race, but I am disappointed with the results. Its embarrassing, we used the base setting for both races. Yesterday we worked on the balance of the bike, but we made the wrong choice and didn’t improve. I wasn’t able to any faster. It was just a mistake that we changed the setup, but we have learned a lot. I would like to forget this weekend.”
Ronald ten Kate, Team manager:
”Some weekends you want to remember and some of them you want to forget as quick as possible. Today falls in that last category. Throughout the weekend we have been struggling to find the grip needed to set the right pace on this track. We will have to analyse the data we have collected here when we get back home and should improve for the Misano race.”
Results Race 1:
1, N.Haga
2, T. Bayliss
3, M.Neukirchner
4, T. Corser
5, C. Checa
12, R. Kiyonari
Results Race 2:
1, N.Haga
2, T. Corser
3, Neukirchner
4, T. Bayliss
5, C.Checa
11, R. Kiyonari
