Carlos Checa still fighting fitness issues ahead of Portimao round

Carlos Checa’s 2013 season has been marred so far not only by the technical issuess regarding the 1199 Panigale, but also by several injuries.
The Ducati Alstare rider is currently suffering from shoulder issues (an osseous edema) and his team pulled him out from the second race at Donington Park, and he also skipped the entire Monza round, but now the Spaniard will be returning to action for this weekend’s World Superbike round at Portimao.

However, Checa admits that he is still not at full fitness, despite physiotherapy and other treatments and says that maybe at 41 years of age, it just takes a little longer to regain form.
“My aim is to regain strength and prepare as well as possible for this weekend’s races.
At Donington I was probably around a 6 out of 10 but now I feel like an 8.
I’m going to the gym and continuing with physiotherapy every day here in Spain and am in contact with the Clinica Mobile who will help me with treatments throughout the race weekend.

“We’ll have to see how I am once I complete race distance but the Portimão track should be less of a problem than Donington, one of the most physical layouts.

“To be honest I thought I could have done race 2 at Donington but I thank Francis and Ernesto for having made me see that it was best to sit it out – it was the right decision because my shoulder’s had time to regain strength and stability.
I’d like recovery to be quicker but I understand that, now I’m 40, maybe it takes a little longer.
I hope I can soon put this behind me and concentrate instead on my technical growth with the bike.
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