Althea Ducati's Carlos Checa headed an all-Ducati podium in the first World Superbike race at Miller Motorsport Park and has extended his series lead after Max Biaggi wiped out Castrol Honda's Jonathan Rea at turn 12 on lap two.
The pair were seen scrambling to their feet and covered in mud with the Irishman remonstrating with the Roman Emperor. The move had, according to eyewitnesses, shades of Simoncelli while the second Castrol bike of Ruben Xaus got slightly giddy with it and took out Michel Fabrizio two laps later.
Checa got to the front on lap six after BMW's Troy Corser set the early pace on a soft rear tyre while the Liberty Ducati pairing of Jakub Smrz and Syvain Guintoli worked their way through the pack to take second and third after Leon Camier made a mistake and dropped from third back to sixth.
Noriyuki Haga's Pata Aprilia sat in second as Checa disappeared and there was a queue behind Corser as his pace dropped off and four riders got past the veteran in the space of one lap. Camier's moment handed Eugene Laverty third place behind Guintoli and he then went past the Frenchman for second but didn't stay there long.
With ten to go, Smrz found some serious pace and began to cut through, first taking Haga for fourth and then Laverty for third before scything under team-mate Guintoli for second place. Camier, meanwhile, recovered to catch and re-pass Laverty for fourth.
PBM Kawsaki's Tom Sykes also found some speed towards the end of the race to go past Ayrton Badovini and Leon Haslam for sixth place while Haga slipped to ninth and Marco Melandri rounded out the top ten. Corser ended in 14th while James Toseland was the last points scorer in 15th.
