Season finale also sees Troy Corser announcing retirement; dissolution of Yamaha WSBK team sees Melandri to BMW, Laverty to Aprilia for 2012
Althea Racing Ducati’s Carlos Checa and Yamaha World Superbike’s Marco Melandri split wins in the WSBK season finale at Portimao, Portugal. Checa surged past race leader Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing Ducati’s Sylvain Guintoli with three laps to go and quickly pulled away to easily win Race One with several seconds in hand. Race Two saw Yamaha’s Eugene Laverty lead for the majority of the race until being passed by teammate Melandri with four laps to go, the pair giving the Yamaha World Superbike team—which will now be disbanded, after last-ditch attempts to find a sponsor to keep it going failed—a one-two finish sendoff.
Overshadowing the racing action were the usual seat changes in the World Superbike grid. Melandri will be moving to the factory BMW squad next year, with Laverty announcing that he will be riding a factory Aprilia in 2012. Reports from Europe are signaling that Laverty will not be in the Alitalia squad with Max Biaggi, but most likely in the satellite Pata Racing Aprilia team with full factory support. Current San Carlo Honda Gresini MotoGP rider Hiroshi Aoyama will be moving to the Castrol Honda WSBK squad next year, and it seems likely that LCR Honda MotoGP rider Toni Elias will also find a seat somewhere in World Superbike after a dismal 2012 season. Michel Fabrizio is leaving the Alstare Suzuki squad (who will most likely be switching to another brand with Suzuki not offering any support for next year) to partner Ayrton Badovini in the BMW Italia team.
Former AMA and World Superbike champion Troy Corser announced his retirement on Sunday, after a 16-year career in WSBK (minus an aborted 500GP campaign in 1997).
Rumors were also rampant that newly crowned World Superbike champion Checa was on the verge of signing a lucrative contract with the satellite BMW Italia team for 2012, but Ducati has reportedly stepped in with a contract offer with Althea Racing. According to Italian racing website gpone.com, Checa noted in a pre-Portimao interview some concern that his manager had not heard from Ducati or Althea Racing about future plans after clinching the title at Magny-Cours, France. Upon hearing this, the BMW Italia team quickly dangled a very lucrative contract in front of the Spaniard, hoping to entice him to form a very formidable lineup with Melandri, Leon Haslam, and Ayrton Badovini. However, gpone.com is now reporting that Ducati racing boss Claudio Domenicali called Checa to inform him that a program with Althea Racing has been proposed, with only details to be firmed up, thus clearing the way for the aforementioned Fabrizio/BMW Italia move.
Photo Gallery: 2011 World Superbike Portimao race report—Checa and Melandri split wins - Sport Rider Magazine
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