Carlos Checa: "It already feels like we’re at the limit"

Reigning World Champion Carlos Checa can be more than satisfied with the results of this latest test at Phillip Island.
Even carrying an extra weight of six kilos on his Ducati, the Spaniard still managed to keep everyone at bay including a very determined Tom Sykes.
While many riders, especially Max Biaggi say that those extra kilos on the Ducati 1198 will make no difference to someone like Checa, the Spaniardwho is not one for complaining stated that it already feels like that they are at the limit, but know which direction the team has to take to overcome this weight increase handicap.

“We lost time yesterday because I was unwell; I stayed in bed for most of the morning and only went out on track from about 2.
30pm.
Despite that setback, we still got most of the work done luckily.
Today was even hotter and we tried different things but it seems hard to make further improvements when we already feel like we’re at the limit.
We started the season well here last year so we’ve compared last year’s set-up to this year’s, considering the extra 6kg, and we understand the direction to take.

We’ll continue with the work on Monday, concentrating mainly on the tyres and their behavior in these hot conditions but for now I can say I’m satisfied,” said Checa.
New team mate Davide Giugliano also had to adjust to the new weight limit and the Australian venue, but he too managed to complete his testing schedule and try out a new fork.
The Italian was also one of the many riders who took a spill during the test – on day 1 – but he was one of the lucky ones and managed to avoid any injuries.
Davide Giugliano said, “All in all it’s gone well seeing as it’s the first time I’m seeing the Phillip Island track.
I think we can be happy with the work completed over the three days, though there’s still a lot to do next week! Everything went more or less to plan, apart from a crash on day one but, thanks to my team that has worked hard to set the bike up to suit my riding style, I was able to build confidence and I am feeling more positive as a result.
Now we can rest up for a couple of days before turning our minds to the next round of tests.
”We expect that team owner Genesio Bevilacqua will have more than one complaint regarding the extra weight that Checa and Giugliano will have to deal with over the course of the season, but for the moment he seems satisfied with both his riders performance so far.
“Considering that this has been a long and tiring test session, with very high track temperatures, I think we can be satisfied with the results.
We were mainly checking the bike’s set up and behavior in light of the extra six kilos.
It’s clear that on this track Carlos is able to set some very fast times but this wasn’t our main focus here.
We’ve worked hard and I think it has paid off as we have a strong set-up and feel ready for the off.
We of course have a significant disadvantage with the extra weight on board, and we’ve already seen here that riders like Laverty, Haslam, Biaggi and Sykes are strong, but we are confident in Carlos’ abilities.
As far as Davide is concerned, and bearing in mind that it’s always difficult for a rider with a new bike at a new track, I believe that he has good pace and is definitely moving in the right direction.
We concentrated on making him comfortable and giving him confidence with the bike and he made constant progress.
The whole team is more united than ever and we’ll continue with our work programme next Monday.
” declared the Italian manager.