Althea Ducati's Carlos Checa has added the second World Superbike race win to his earlier victory and world title at Magny Cours and with it handed Ducati the manufacturer title after once again sliding past Yamaha's Eugene Laverty at half distance.
Checa waited until there were ten laps to go before passing the works Yamaha man and then controlled the race from the front to win by a little over a second after rolling off the throttle to take his win tally for the season to 14 with two left.
Laverty looked set for second place but he was mugged and sat up by team-mate Marco Melandri going into the hairpin on the last lap. Despite the dodgy move, Laverty now goes past Max Biaggi in the title chase and will start the first race at Portimao in third.
It was another solid race for Leon Haslam, finishing in fourth place after fighting his way through the field. He had to pass Leon Camier again on his way to the front but extends his lead in the championship over the Aprilia man.
Sylvain Guintoli also got the better of Camier at the death, slipping underneath at Imola but the Kent man looked to be suffering with serious tyre wear. Joan Lascorz, Ayrton Badovini, Troy Corser and Nori Haga rounded out the top ten.
Castrol Honda's Jonathan Rea suffered another technical problem in lap ten and was forced to retire. He was seen to be flicking switches on and off which would point to the second electrical fault in as many weekends. Tom Sykes slid off on lap one when he had to lock the front to avoid the rear of Carlos Checa going into the hairpin.
