Spaniard Carlos Checa took an imperious double win for his Althea Racing Ducati team at the San Marino round of the Superbike World Championship at Misano on Sunday.

This was his third double win of 2011, on a day when he had to compete in three races to win two of them. The result saw Checa stretch his series lead to a healthy 72 points, adding to his double at Miller just two weeks prior.

“It was a fantastic weekend, we expected to be competitive but not at this level,” Checa said. “We took the best at this track, and the team worked so well.

“In the second race we had different tyres, because it was hotter, and we made the right decision because the bike gave me an even better finish!

“After the race the chain broke while I was celebrating but it’s better than breaking in the race!”

The first 24-lap Superbike took place as planned but the second race at Misano was halted and then restarted, over 14 laps, after Marco Melandri’s bike lay across the track and another rider fell off directly behind, prompting fears of an oil leak.

The first running of race two is now disregarded, with full points going to all riders who scored in the second running.

Behind Carlos, Max Biaggi overcame a highly disturbed practice and Tissot Superpole contest on Saturday to take two second places and at least stick in the slipstream of Checa in the points standings.

“I think I did my best, pushing and pushing,” current world champion Biaggi reflected. “Maybe we didn’t have the same equipment as before, but I hope that in the future there will be some improvements.

“Two times second so we must be satisfied. The points gap between me and Carlos is a lot, but we now need a bit more.”

It was a bad day for Melandri, even if he scored third in race one, as his inability to restart in race two means he leaves his second home race of the year with only 16 points compared to Checa’s 50 and Biaggi’s Misano haul of 40.

Kawasaki had its best single race of the year so far when Tom Sykes took the Ninja ZX-10R to fourth in race one, and he was on target for a similar finish in the originally scheduled race two, until the red flag came out.

Eugene Laverty had one good and one not so good race, running his Yamaha World Superbike Team machine to fifth, but then 13th, after he fell from a potential podium placing.

Haslam had another gritty and hard-fought day of racing on his BMW Motorrad Motorsport machine, falling in race one and defending his places hard in race two, to finish fifth. He is also fifth in the championship.

Leon Camier was up and down at Misano as well, as the Aprilia Alitalia rider scored sixth in race one, but fell behind Melandri in race two. He is sixth in the rankings, one up on Michel Fabrizio, who had a mirror image reflection of Camier’s day, finishing sixth in race two, but falling to a no-score in race one.

Castrol Honda rider Jonathan Rea was unable to race at Misano, as he had a fast crash in warm-up, which caused a clean break on his right wrist, ruling him out of any further action.

Australia’s leading contender Troy Corser was forced out with pain from his practice crash sustained earlier in the weekend.

Of the other Aussies, Queenslander Chris Vermeulen finished with 14-10 results in his return to racing for the Kawasaki Racing Team.

Pedercini Kawasaki’s Mark Aitchison experienced cruel luck after showing exceptional form in both races, a mechanical problem striking in race one before he crashed out of the second.

In World Supersport it was Aussie Broc Parkes (Kawasaki Motocard.com) who took his first win of the year in fine style, taking the lead from Chaz Davies (Yamaha ParkinGO), who would eventually finish sixth.

A spirited second in the 22-lap race was former Misano race winner, Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) with Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda) blasting his way to third.

Lowes finished ahead of David Salom (Kawasaki Motocard.com) and long term second place runner, Ilario Dionisi (Honda Italia Improve FG).

In the championship standings, Parkes now leads Davies by five points, 85 to 80, with Davies’ teammate Luca Scassa third on an unchanged 70 points. Foret has 56 points, Salom 55.

The Superstock 1000 race was won by Roman rider Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati), with Aussie Bryan Staring taking 11th, while Beau Beaton was 21st for the round.

2011 Superbike World Championship
Round Six – Misano, Italy

Superbike Race One Results:
1. Carlos CHECA
2. Max BIAGGI
3. Marco MELANDRI
4. Tom SYKES
5. Eugene LAVERTY
6. Leon CAMIER
7. Sylvain GUINTOLI
8. Ayrton BADOVINI
9. Joan LASCORZ
10. Maxime BERGER
11. Ruben XAUS
12. Matteo BAIOCCO
13. Alessandro POLITA
14. Chris VERMEULEN
15. Lorenzo LANZI

Superbike Race Two Results:
1. Carlos CHECA
2. Max BIAGGI
3. Noriyuki HAGA
4. Ayrton BADOVINI
5. Leon HASLAM
6. Michel FABRIZIO
7. Sylvain GUINTOLI
8. Ruben XAUS
9. Joan LASCORZ
10. Chris VERMEULEN
11. Lorenzo LANZI
12. Roberto ROLFO

Superbike Championship Standings:
1. Carlos Checa 245
2. Max Biaggi 173
3. Marco Melandri 150
4. Eugene Laverty 123
5. Leon Haslam 106
6. Leon Camier 101
7. Michel Fabrizio 95
8. Jonathan Rea 94
9. Jakub Smrz 83
10. Sylvain Guintoli 72