Passing the historic milestone of 300 World Superbike
race victories for Ducati was an honour taken by Checa onboard his
Ducati 1198 in race one of the Silverstone round of the series in July, a
victory that he dedicated to Ducati by autographing the celebratory
graphic that currently welcomes visitors to the main reception area of
the Bologna factory. Ducati management officially thanked Checa for his
incredible achievements so far this season before celebrations continued
with the staff of Ducati Corse in the race
department of the company.
The
landmark 300th victory for Ducati represented the 9th race win for
Checa in 2011, but victory also in race two at Silverstone that same day
brought his year's total wins to 10, further strengthening his lead for
the
Riders' title and Ducati's for the Manufacturers' title.
The impressive performance underlined the Spaniard's incredible form this year, the professionalism of Team Althea Racing and the continued competiveness of the Borgo Panigale built twin-cylinder motorcycle.
Ducati's historic 300 race wins in the World Superbike Championship started with victory for Marco Lucchinelli in the first ever World Superbike race at Donington Park, England in 1988 and continued as 25 more Ducati-mounted riders wrote themselves into the pages of motorcycle racing history. Legendary riders such as the incredible Carl Fogarty, Doug Polen, Raymond Roche, Troy Corser, Giancarlo Falappa, Neil Hodgson, Piefrancesco Chili, Ben Bostrom, James Toseland, Noriyuki Haga, Troy Bayliss and many others up until the current World Championship leader, Carlos Checa. The victories have generated a total of 155 Ducati pole positions, 753 podiums, 13 Rider's and 16 Manufacturers' World Championship titles.
Carlos Checa and Team Althea Racing now enter the German round this weekend with a confident 62 point lead over Max Biaggi for the World Championship, while Ducati currently lead the race for the Manufacturers' title by 35 points.
