Checa takes out Neukirchner. Lanzi wins at Valencia

Lorenzo Lanzi was gifted a win in Valencia WSB after Carlos Checa's final corner lunge took out Suzuki's Max Neukirchner. ...

Lorenzo Lanzi was gifted a win in Valencia WSB after Carlos Checa's final corner lunge took out Suzuki's Max Neukirchner. That was the essence of a decent opening race in Valencia.

There were plenty of early race crashed which put paid to Nori Haga, Yukio Kagayama and Michel Fabrizio, while Sterligarda duo Max Biaggi and Ruben Xaus both suffered mechanicals, as did Ryuichi Kiyonari.


Once the race settled and those front tyres got up to temperature, it looked like Neukirchner had it in the bag, while Bayliss and ex-team mate Lanzi duked it out for the two remaining podium spots, watched from a distance by Troy Corser.

But Checa, who had been fast all weekend, made up for his crappy start and eased past the rest on a nimble-looking and fast Honda Fireblade, until he was ready to have a go at Neukirchner.

Pole sitter Neukirchner had led for every lap - he had four seconds at one point - until Checa took him out on the final corner. The irony was that Checa managed to get up and running again to finish fifth, while the German was trapped under his bike and was unable to start race two. So it finished Lanzi, Bayliss and Troy Corser. Weird.