Reigning World Superbike Champion Carlos Checa is pessimistic about his chances of victory at the World Superbikes races at the famed Monza circuit in Italy. Monza is known to be a horse power circuit with its long straights and sweeping corners where the riders hardly get off the power and it is here that the twin cylinder Ducati 1198 suffers in comparison with its four cylinder competition. The Aprilia RSV4 is considered to be the favourite when it comes to horse power and Max Biaggi must be fancying his chances here. Even the BMW S1000Rs ridden by Marco Melandri and Leon Haslam have good horse power and are among the list of bikes that could do well at Monza along with the Aprilia RSV4 and also the Kawasaki ZX 10R. However the last mentioned has yet to prove itself a winner along with the BMW, making the Aprilia a clear favourite.
Carlos Checa has therefore said that a fifth place for him at the famed Monza circuit would the equivalent of a victory and that such a position would be damage limitation that would leave him within striking range of the lead for the World Championship. Meanwhile Tom Sykes is being considered one of the favourites along with Max Biaggi given the good start he has had to the season thus far and also because he is a late braker, a quality that is supposed to give rich dividends at Monza. His weak point is that he has never won a race in the dry, but then this could be the opportunity for him to change things now.