Carlos Checa extended his championship lead with a dominating victory in the second race at Donington Park.

The Spaniard opted to go out on the softer compound tyre for race 2 and the decision to do so payed great dividends as the Ducati rider pulled away from pack once he hit the front

Brit Leon Haslam again got to Redgate corner first, but was unable to stop Checa’s charge to the front as he overtook the BMW rider at the Melbourne loop on the third lap.

Haslam was unable to respond and Checa slowly pulled away from the chasing pack to eventually finish 3.3 seconds ahead of Marco Melandri in second. Melandri and Camier both passed Haslam on lap seven, before the BMW rider had an off-track excursion on lap eight, rejoining the race in eighth. Haslam fiished in fourth.

Melandri got a better start this time, placing fourth after the first few laps before setting his sights on Haslam and Leon Camier in second and third.

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Carlos Checa rounded off a perfect weekend at Phillip Island with victory in both races to take home a maximum of 50 points and the World championship lead.

After dominating during practise and qualifying it was hardly a surprise to see Carlos Checa continue in the same vein in both races of the opening round of the 2011 World Superbike season at Phillip Island in Australia.

What might have been surprising is that despite closing the gap on the Althea Ducati during qualifying, none of the other teams could get close to the Spaniard on the track, leaving Checa to romp away and build up a significant lead in both races.

2010 World Superbike Champion Max Biaggi was best of the rest, securing the second podium place in both races while most of the action on the track was taking place in the jostle for the final podium spot, with Leon Haslam and Marco Melandri claiming the place respectively over the two races.

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