By Christian Tiburtius

An exclusive interview with fo🔜rme💞r MotoGP star and 2011 World Superbike champion Carlos Checa.

Checa i✱s currently 14th in this year's WSBK standings for the Ducati Alstare team, after an injury interrupted season on the new Panigale...

ltxcn.top:
Where are you from is Spain?

Carlos Checa:
Close to Barcelona so I'm a Catalan.

ltxcn.top:
And is that where you live?

Carlos Checa:
My parents live there, but my home base since '99 is England. Initially I was in London, I didn't like it so much though so I moved to Great Ayton near Middlesborough. I moved there because when I signed for Yamaha, the manager lived there and my girlfriend liked it. It was very good th﷽ere for cycling and sport and quite beautiful.

F🌃ive years ago I moved back to London because of the ease of trav🉐el.

ltxcn.top:
Are you recognised in the street a lot?

Carlos Checa:
In💫 Spain and Italy, yes. I'm not recognised that much though, I'm not a football player. You can survive vꦺery well, it's not too bad.

ltxcn.top:
So after all these years, why do you still race?

Carlos Checa:
That's a question I've been asking my🌳self in the last few weeks!

I'm 40 years old, I started in world championships i💃n '93, so this will be my 20th year in world championships but I still like th♓e competition, I like to compete.

This year though is probably my hardest because technically we're very 𒈔far from the top riders and once you've been there fighting with the top gu൲ys, it's very hard to be riding mid-pack, you feel very limited.

My recent years have actually be💜en very successful in that I was able to win more races in the last three years than in the rest of my career, so in general I've really enj🦩oyed these times.

For me I don't feel different sitting on the grid now to what I did when I started my𒀰 career. It's not your age or how many years you've been racing, it's your approach to what you do. Confidence doesn't change over the years, it comes more with what you do and achieve and how you do it.

Maybe the years give you mo🅺re serenity and allow you to judge and have a vision. Perhaps more maturity, when you🅘're in action the nervous system reacts the same.

Motorbikes for 𓃲me are my passion, they're my life. Maybe one day I'll stop, but I still enjoy it and while I still enjoy it I'll be there. I've liked motorbikes since I was very young and my passion for bikes is more than for competition. Sometimes when I have an opportunity to try other motor🦄bike styles, like enduro or motocross, I always take part.

When you have൩ the speed, the ability and🌸 the risk and you put those all into a competition it's fantastic.

ltxcn.top:
You enjoy the risk?

Carlos Checa:
Yeah, of course. I can't enjoy something if there's no risk. You always have a risk in anyth🤡ing you do. I have some friends who go climbing and they have more risk than me.

It just🦹 depends on whether you accept it or not. I accept it and I'm sure that I'll race until I can't. At the moment it's not in my mind to retire though.

I understand that the sport i𝕴s very dangerous, but the benefit I get is much bigger than the risk. The benefit is excitement and adrenaline. I do a lot of extreme sports such as parachuting which give me the same feeling. I like to push my body and mind to the limit.

Also, it's only when you are at the limit that you can discover where you are and improve, if you never push t🌺o your limit you'♋ll never improve. The limits I am talking about here are your mental limits; it's there that the improvement comes.

If there's no risk then it feels 🔯as if my mind🍸 hasn't woken up and when you have risk you feel happy. You can't win something worthwhile if you can't lose as well

I don't ride on the road though. A sports bike on the road makes ✅no sense to me.

ltxcn.top:
🧜Given your attitude to risk, would you consider riding the TT?

Carlos Checa:
No, not the TT. I'm completely against that race.

For a thrill I can go at 300km/h withouജt a helmet if I want but it's not a good idea, the TT is the same thing.

For sure I can race at the TT, but for me it makes no sense. We know thereꦆ's danger in racing and we've been fighting for rider safety for a long time so that doesn't seem like a good idea. Taking part in a sport is one thing, but being stupid or reckless is another. Mind you I'm not saying th🌄at the riders who take part are stupid, it's just those circumstances. The world has grown up in many areas and safety is one of them.

Also I think that some of the scenes we get from that race such as motorꦍcycles jumping in the street don't give a good image for motorcycle racing

I would ask the people who organ♔ise tha💞t race if they would be happy if their son were taking part.

ltxcn.top:
Do you enjoy the traveling lifestyle of racing?

Carlos Checa:
It's not so bad but I prefer practice, racing and testing, any work on the bike, I'm not really here for these other asp൩ects.

ltxcn.top:
Don't 🅘the inju🔯ries you sustain over a career build up?

Carlos Checa:
No, I feel quite well. I've made 📖a full recovery even from this season's accidents. I'm honest, if I didn't feel well, I wouldn't be here. Physically I'm fine and it certainly isn't an excuse for not going fast.

I always like to do some training and when I'm not com♌peting any more I'll still continue to stay physically fit. I've got friends of 55 who are still pushing on the bicycle. For me training is fun anyway.

ltxcn.top:
How long is your contract with Ducati?

Carlos Checa:
Just this year and we haven't discussed anything for next year. That's normal in Superbikes though because the season finishes very late, it finishes in November [the Indian season finale has since been cancelled]. I imagine we'ไll start talking in Septe♚mber or October.

ltxcn.top:
Do you anticipate staying?

Carlos Checa:
I don't know.

I'd really like to stay with Ducati though, I like them. At the 𝔍moment I am just racing this bike with this team at this race aꦯnd don't want to distract myself with future plans.

ltxcn.top:
The Panigale is doing very well in Superstock but not in WSBK, whyꦜ is that?

ltxcn.top:
The rules.

The bikꦕe is goo🐽d for Superstock but not for Superbike, the rules dictate that. In Superbike the four-cylinders can have quite extreme tunes but that isn't allowed in Superstock.

In Superb✅ikes I'm down 20km/h on the straight whereas Niccolo [Canepa, Ducati Superstock rider] only loses maybe 1 or 2 km/h to the fastest bikes. Basically for us the problem is the power. In Rus👍sia for example I was one of the fastest in the sector with curves and then lost five or six tenths on the straight.

The championship has certain rules and at the moment they don't favour us. The two cylinder bikes as the rules stand simply can't live witꦑh the four cylinder ones.

The air restrictor situation has been reviewed after every three races but it seems to be making little difference and the four-cylinder bikes are also making big improvements. Some of the four 🉐cylinder bikes we've got here are pretty much the same level as those in MotoGP and that gives us little chance. At the moment there is an imbalance in power.

The handling is very good though and I'♔m always one of the faste💫st in the twisty sections.

ltxcn.top:
Doesn't it affect your confiden🌳ce when yo♛u know you are down on power?

Carlos Checa:
No tha🔴t certainly isn't an excuse, it's just the reality of the situation. Also it's a compromise I always knew would be part of this project so it's a question of professionalism and dignity that I always do my best.

In racing it is always difficult to get a winning bike and I'm doing my best to try to build up a race-winning bike with this team. I knew that when I first tested the bike that we weren't ready, what you🔯 don't know is how much progress you can make. What I do know for sure is that you won't make any progress without pushing.

At the moment we're struggling to be in the top five or seven, but this 🌳is our position and we have to be realistic. I have to have a clear vision of what I'm doing and where I am and then I can put my maximum effort in even i✱f we can't win.

For me the final result is to try to make the bike better and to make some improvements. If the race results in some improvements then that's🌳 a good result, at this time, the main focus is development

ltxcn.top:
How do you feel about th🎉e planned rule c👍hanges to a more Superstock specification for WSBK?

Carlos Checa:
I welcome them. It would only be an advantage to Duꦇcati as we're winn🍌ing in Superstock.

Also, it's not high technology and performance which makes this sport good. We have to make the racing more equal, safer and cheaper. This movement towards Superstock will help because the main problems are economic. Anything which makesꩲ it cheaper is good.

The technological championship is MotoGP, WSBK🉐 should be more production based with modifications that all teams can afford, not just the factories. Not many teams can afford that technolog꧋y at the moment.

BSB is go💃od in this r✤espect, in BSB you can go racing.

ltxcn.top:
In MotoGP you've ridden Japanese bikes and you've ridden the 💮Ducati, what makes the Ducati so difficult to adapt to?

Carlos Checa:
The only differencꦓe is that at thi💮s moment it's one second slower than the others.

I don't know, when I rode it in 2005 I liked it, I got some podiums, the bike was good for me. I tested the 800 and I didn't like it so much, it was with a dif💮ferent team, had different tyres and was much stiffer.

𓂃The Honda was different to the Yamaha, the Suzuki was different to the Yamaha and the Ducati was also different. I don't feel that there is any particular difference which makes the Ducati worse.

It's just two wheels, an engine a🎀nd some handlebars and at the moment it just seems as if they've lost the balance between these components. Theไ bike that Casey won on is totally different to the one now anyway, it had different tyres and 20km/h more than now. When they changed the bike he didn't want it anymore.

Heather Watson (Ducati press officer, also present):
I remember Casey complaining about the bike too, but when Ducati wouldn't fix the problems he would just ri𒅌de around them. He never said it was a perfect bike to ride, he just said that he had to ride it on the limit and when he complained, people wouldn't listen, it wasn't easy or anything.

ltxcn.top:
Sylvain Guintoli and Hopper both came to BSB to successfu🍒lly rebuild their careers, is there any ch☂ance that you would come?

Carlos Checa:
I don't know, I would consider it at the end. Mayb🐽e some races.

ltxcn.top:
Thanks Carlos.

Carlos Checa:
No problem.