Althea Racing's Carlos Checa posted two great rides in practice and qualifying at Imola, leading both and taking the overnight provisional pole at the intense Imola circuit in Italy.
Late drama arrived when flag signaled indicating a the presence of rain in the last three minutes of the first qualifying session. Checa was eventually clearly ahead of his peers with a 1'48.178 lap, set in the afternoon's qualifying session.
Second quickest rider, a winner last time out in Germany, was Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider Jonathan Rea, almost four-tenths off Checa. Championship contender Leon Haslam battled to third, improving on his performance from free qualifying despite lingering injures from his big crash in Germany. He had a heavily strapped left knee to support his damaged knee ligament.
"In the morning session my knee felt really bad and the whole session was a bit of a struggle, even though I had some strapping on it," Haslam said.
"So for the afternoon qualifying, we made the strapping much stronger and I had some pain-killing injections before I went out. I definitely felt a bit more comfortable and was able to put in some decent laps. My thumb is a bit irritable, but I forget about when I am on the bike and it's OK as long as it doesn't move in a certain direction!
"Today the track didn't feel as good or as quick as the tests and it is a bit more slippery. Hopefully, as more rubber goes down, it will improve. This afternoon, my lap times were quite comfortable and I really didn't have any big problems. Obviously my main competition is Max and I have to beat him in both races if I want to keep my title dream alive. I've heard that he's not so good in the wet, so maybe it would be better for me if it did rain on Sunday. But, the weather is something I cannot do anything about so I will be doing my best, whatever the conditions," the Alstare Suzuki concluded.
Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) was a firm fourth, his team-mate Michel Fabrizio one place back.
Checa's team-mate Shane Byrne was fast at this bumpy and challenging circuit, going sixth, and heading up a high quality bunch of riders in the lower reaches of the top ten. Cal Crutchlow Yamaha Sterilgarda team) was seventh, Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) went eighth, Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) was ninth and Corser's team-mate Ruben Xaus was tenth.
To the surprise of most championship leader Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) was 14th, some 1.435 seconds behind the leading pace put in by Checa. Biaggi could not find the chassis settings he wanted on the first day and now will concentrate on making his bike set-up suit the bumpy and intense Imola layout.
In all, 22 riders made it into practice at Imola, despite the absence of Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia) who is recuperating from an operation on his wrist.
In World Supersport Kenan Sofuoglu (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) took provisional pole in the Supersport class with a 1'52.397 lap, in another session where rain showed itself for a short time. Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) was second fastest, local rider and Sofuoglu's team-mate, Michele Pirro, was third.
‰ÛÏIt is a shame it rained as we were just getting into our stride and making good improvements so to lose track time is frustrating," Laverty said. "We have a new Pirelli tyre and it looks as though it has a lot of potential so we will be busy tomorrow working on that. Kenan tested here in July with the new tyre so he has a slight advantage today but we are closing him down quick.‰Û
