Even the best among us can sometimes make mistakes, but Carlos Checa's decision on the starting grid was truly incomprehensible for a rider of his experience. While all of his closest championship rivals opted for slicks, or at most an intermediate front and slick rear (like Biaggi), Checa chose full rain tires. The race had been declared "wet", but the sun was shining brightly and the track was already drying in most places.
"I was convinced that it would start raining again. We have very precise weather forecasts, and they said there was a chance of rain for 3:30pm, just when the race would be starting. With that said, It was a big mistake and I take full responsibility for it."
What was your strategy for this choice?
"If it had started to rain, I would have had a considerable advantage. Unfortunately it didn't work out like that. Then I probably should have pulled in after the warm up lap, which wouldn't have cost me much time and probably allowed me to save some points. Instead I did two laps first, and by the time I changed tires, I had already lost too much time to salvage a result. Now we can only turn the page and look ahead."
But Biaggi has retaken the championship lead...
"In reality I'm very happy with the race 1 result. It wasn't easy to run the first part in the dry, so forget about the second part in the pouring rain. I didn't have any traction or grip, and it was one of the hardest races in my WSBK career. So third place was really good."
It could have been second place, were it not for your teammate Giugliano.
"I gave him my compliments. He raced well and deserved the result."
MotoGP unchanged , WSBK Johnny Rea GOOOOOOONE 
3 years I have stuck by him but he just isnt racey this year 
( watch that come back to bite me ) & after sticking by Hiroshi Aoyama for a few years he is punted too 
