World champion Checa continues sparkling form in Phillip Island

Carlos Checa continued his superb form in the opening session of Phillip Island official testing that marks the countdown towards Sunday's opening round in Australia. The Althea Racing man headed the timesheets at the end of the morning session, ending up with a time of 1 minute 31.947 seconds after 38 laps. Checa's time was just one tenth of a second away from the time he obtained here last week during private testing.

Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) was right behind Checa, the Italian going second quickest with a time of 1'32.136, while Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike), who tested privately here in January, was third in 1'32.381. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) was fifth in the standings behind Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad), who lost control of his S 1000 RR machine coming out of the final curve and crashed hard in the run-off area. Haslam was unable to stand up immediately and was then taken to hospital on the Island, where a small bone fracture in his right heel was diagnosed.

Today's second session will finish at 1730 local time.

Superbike - Monday first session

1 7 Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1'31.947
2 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'32.136
3 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'32.381
4 91 Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 1'32.397
5 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'32.465
6 33 Melandri M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1'32.556
7 50 Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1'32.768
8 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'32.848
9 17 Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'33.023
10 2 Camier L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'33.104
11 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1'33.141
12 34 Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'33.366
13 121 Berger M. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1'33.570
14 44 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'33.812
15 59 Canepa N. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'33.863
16 4 Aoyama H. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'34.225
17 67 Staring B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'34.388
18 86 Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1'34.440
19 87 Zanetti L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'34.782
20 25 Brookes J. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'34.922
21 19 Davies C. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'35.019
22 35 De Rosa R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'35.164
23 18 Aitchison M. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'36.224