Reigning World Superbike Champion Carlos Checa knows that this weekend's Monza meeting will be one of damage limitation for him as there will be nothing he can do to stop his ageing Ducati getting murdered along the track's two long straights.

The Althea man won't even be able to use his superior race craft and corner speed because the Spaniard is staring down the barrel of an eight mile-an-hour top-end deficit against the Aprilias and BMWs - top tens are all he is expecting.

“We know that Monza will probably be the hardest round on the calendar for us and the Ducati, something we have also seen in the last two seasons. We will do our best to take as many points as possible but realize that this weekend will be mainly about containing the damage. Two top ten finishes would be good, and closing inside the top five would feel like a win for us here,” said Checa.