Spain's Carlos Checa rode his Ducati 1198 motorcycle to the famous marque's 300th World Superbike victory.
Carlos Checa celebrates Ducati's 300th win Image: Ducati |
Checa clinched the famous win at the UK's equally famous Silverstone race circuit, home of the F1 British Grand Prix, beating reigning World Superbike Champion, Max Biaggi, amongst other top names, to lead the Riders' table for 2011.
The win was the 300th outright victory for Ducati's legendary Desmo twin-cylinder racing 'bikes, renowned for their distinctive growling engine note, since the Italian manufacturer joined the newly-formed World series in 1988.
The marque's first win was scored by Italian Marco Lucchinelli at Donington Park, also in the UK, and he has been followed by such illustrious names as Britain's Carl Fogarty with 55 wins and four Championship titles, Australia's Troy Bayliss (52 and 3) and the USA's Doug Polen (26 and 2). France's Raymond Roche also notched more than 20 wins and one Championship in his career with Ducati.
The team has won no fewer than 16 World Superbike Manufacturers' titles over the 23 years of the series and been in pole position on 155 occasions, with its riders taking 753 podium finishes. Ducati is looking strong to add another Manufacturers' title again this year, leading the 2011 series by 35 points ahead of Yamaha and Aprilia.
Apparently, Checa was unaware of the possible landmark before the first race of the day, but made up for this by raising Ducati's victory tally to 301 after winning the second Silverstone race as well.
Of course, this contrasts with Ducati's poor showing this year in MotoGP where even the 'goat' (greatest of all time) Valentino Rossi is struggling to get the bike to perform.