Carlos Checa will start the second round of the 2011 Superbike World Championship at Donnington Park from pole position.
The Althea Racing Ducati rider set the fastest lap of the weekend in the final period of the Superpole session to head local heroes Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike).
Jakub Smrz (Effenbert – Liberty Racing Ducati), Noriyuki Haga (Pata Racing Team Aprilia) and Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) round out the top six.
“Everything is working so well here at Donington, we expected to go well and we did it,” said Checa.
“Our progress from yesterday to today was quite comfortable, basically today the tyres were working well with these conditions and this cold.
“With one lap to get going it was not easy to get confidence but I was able to get a good enough time to get the pole and that’s important for tomorrow.”
Yamaha World Superbike Team rider Eugene Laverty will start 13th after a big crash in Superpole 1.
See below for the qualifying result
1. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’28.099
2. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1’28.365
3. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’28.556
4. Jakub Smrz (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’28.561
5. Noriyuki Haga (PATA Racing Team Aprilia) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’28.673
6. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’28.702
7. Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’28.737
8. Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) Honda CBR1000RR 1’29.514
9. Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) Yamaha YZF R1 1’28.803
10. Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1’28.836
11. Michel Fabrizio (Team Suzuki Alstare) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’29.135
12. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’29.422
13. Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) Yamaha YZF R1 1’29.312
14. Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’29.879
15. Maxime Berger (Supersonic Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1’30.002
16. Ruben Xaus (Castrol Honda) Honda CBR1000RR 1’30.076
17. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team) BMW S1000 RR 1’30.169
18. Roberto Rolfo (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’30.680
19. Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’31.117
20. Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’31.485
