[kropotkin thinks...] - 2011 WSBK Assen Preview - A Country For Old Men

[Ninjette Newsbot]

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After just two rounds of the World Superbike championship, the Althea Ducati juggernaut looks just about unstoppable. Four races, three wins, and a worst result of 3rd puts Carlos Checa very much in the driving seat of the 2011 championship.

There is good reason to believe that Checa will continue as he has started, with the Spaniard and his Italian team running like a well-oiled machine. Accusations that the team is actually Ducati's factory effort have been strenuously denied, though Ernesto Marinelli - head of Ducati's Superbike project - added some nuance to the situation in an interview with Italian website GPOne.com. The Althea squad is not a factory team, Marinelli explained, but rather a private team who buy a package from Ducati Corse. That package includes a 2011 Ducati 1198R, with a very large amount of support from the Bologna factory. Enough, hopefully, to secure a championship, though there is still a very long way to go in the season.

Race results and championship standings 2011


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