News

Carlos Checa (Althea Ducati) may have been unable to get the better of some of the 14 officially supported machines at Assen last weekend, and may even have lost third place in the overall rankings to double race winner Rea, but the Spanish veteran was a strong fourth and sixth in the races, at a circuit which may not have been the best for his particular machine.

He still enjoyed himself, as his post-race comments outlined. "It was great to see Race 2 from my position!" he said, continuing, "unfortunately there was an obvious difference in acceleration between us and the four cylinders and we weren't 100% there with regard to the rideability of the bike."

Checa's machine was not the fastest on the weekend, as the lap charts and top speed figures show, but rider, machine and privateer team are putting up a great fight in a season crammed with potential winners.

No rider is ever happy with anything less than a win, but Checa has been around long enough to know that there will be many more opportunities at tracks that will suit his machine more closely. "The overall balance was not bad when you look at my results," affirmed Carlos. "We have a good package but we are lacking acceleration and speed compared to the four cylinders. I couldn't do more than I did but I'm still fourth in the standings, in what will be a long championship."