Checa on pole in Australia

23 February 2013 07:53

Carlos Checa claimed pole position for the World Superbike races at Phillip Island, while also breaking the track record on Saturday.

The Ducati rider clocked a time of one minute and 30.234 seconds in his final lap of the 4.445km circuit in Australia, to earn prime position for Sunday's two 22-lap events ahead of Aprilia pair Eugene Laverty and Michel Fabrizio.

Laverty (1:30.429) and Fabrizio (1:30.581) couldn't beat the Spanish 40-year-old Checa, who earned his 10th ever pole in World Superbikes.

Earlier in qualifying, Fabrizio had set the new track record with a lap of 1:30.387, but Checa put paid to that in the Superpole.

Kawasaki's Tom Sykes will start from the second row of the grid after he was fourth-fastest with a time of 1:30.615.

BMW's Marco Melandri got an identical time to Sykes, while another Aprilia rider Sylvain Guintoli (1:30.683) will start on row two.