Althea Ducati's Carlos Checa picked himself up from a crash and an engine blow up to top the first free practice timesheets at the Miller Motorsport Park World Superbike round this evening but was hounded all the way by Britain's Leon Camier and his team-mate Max Biaggi.
The Spaniard was forced to swap to his second bike after only a handful of laps in the opening session and then crashed after setting the quickest time. Camier is a little over a half a second off the pace with Biaggi another two-tenths further back.
Castrol Honda's Jonathan Rea set the early pace but was quickly bettered by Checa and Camier held the lead briefly wih a 1'49.567 until Checa started a run of laps which saw first a 1'49.044 and then a 1'48.914 to take top spot.
Biaggi snuck into third place late on with his 1'49.672 while serial qualifier Jakub Smrz pushed Michel Fabrizio in fifth place with his lap of 1'48.980. Rea ended in sixth just ahead of Troy Corser and the PBM Kawasaki of Tom Sykes in eighth.
Yamaha's Eugene Laverty is ninth with team-mate Marco Melandri in tenth more than 1.5s off the pace. Leon Haslam is in 14th with James Toseland in 19th.
