Carlos Checa continued his devasting form to take his second Superpole of the season at very chilly Donington Park. His storming lap of 1’28.099 left BMW’s Leon Haslam in second and a little more than 3 tenths off, but the hour session will be more talked about by three incidents that happened between reigning World Champion Max Biaggi, Marco Melandri and Noriyuki Haga, which really sent the sparks flying.

The second stint saw the return of the infamous Max Biaggi of the old MotoGP days, which we sincerely thought he finally outgrew. The first ‘victim’ of the Corsaro Nero was Marco Melandri. The Yamaha rider was on his fast lap and probably would have made it into the final stint when he was blantly cut off by Biaggi at the McLeans turn which was followed by some fist waving. Melandri would just a few minutes later return the favour by putting in a neat block pass on his fellow countryman.

This messing aroung cost Melandri his entry into the final stint and only a ninth spot on the qualifying grid. The second incident was with Noriyuki Haga. Biaggi was travelling at low speed and baulked Haga during the Japanese’s fast lap, which would have been good enough for a front row start. Haga’s satisfaction will be that he qualified ahead of the factory Aprilia rider in fifth

What’s more at the end the Superpole session, Biaggi marched into Melandri’s garage pointing an accusing and waving finger at him and then lightly slapped him a couple of times, which left not only Melandri speechless, but also the commentators. Biaggi reminded everyone of his previous problems with Melandri. There is no lost love between these two since their MotoGP days. Assen 2005 anyone?

Getting back to the qualifying grid, Tom Sykes will be taking off in third followed by Jakub Smrz in fourth. Biaggi who will have to be careful tomorrow after today’s antics took the sixth spot while team mate Leon Camier was seventh, making it three Aprilia’s in the second row, with Jonathan Rea in eighth on the Castrol Honda. Marco Melandri in ninth after his incident with Biaggi and Troy Corser closed out the top ten.

WSBK Donington Superpole Results:

01- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198
02- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR
03- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R
04- Jakub Smrz – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198
05- Noriyuki Haga – Pata Racing Team Aprilia – Aprilia RSV4 Factory
06- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory
07- Leon Camier – Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory
08- Jonathan Rea – Castrol Honda – Honda CBR 1000RR
09- Marco Melandri – Yamaha World Superbike Team – Yamaha YZF R1
10- Troy Corser – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR
11- Michel Fabrizio – Team Suzuki Alstare – Suzuki GSX-R 1000
12- Joan Lascorz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R
13- Eugene Laverty – Yamaha World Superbike Team – Yamaha YZF R1
14- Sylvain Guintoli – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198
15- Maxime Berger – Supersonic Racing Team – Ducati 1198
16- Ruben Xaus – Castrol Honda – Honda CBR 1000RR
17- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia – BMW S1000RR
18- Roberto Rolfo – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R
19- Mark Aitchison – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R

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