Honda LCR rider Carlos Checa finished 12th in today’s Turkish Grand Prix after a difficult day of racing at Istanbul park. Checa started from 16th position, but could not find the same positive feeling from his Honda RC212V and tyres that he had in earlier practice sessions.

Checa settled in 11th on lap one, avoiding a four rider pile-up, but late in the race could not hold hold-off Chris Vermeulen and was twelfth at the finish. Checa said his bike was down on engine speed, tyre grip and chassis balance in a race from which he had hoped to achieve a much better result. The race was won by Australian Casey Stoner before 40,000 spectators.

CHECA: Race: Twelfth - Championship: 13th/14 points

CHECA: “That was a very difficult race, much worse than I anticipated. I did not have a good feeling from the engine or front-end stability, especially in the fast, fifth gear corner. I almost crashed a couple of times, it was quite scary. From then I just decided to finish the race with no risks, I was suffering with tyre grip, engine speed and chassis balance which was much better in practice. We need to analyse these problems and move forward to the China race.”

Despite fading rear tyre grip Irishman Eugene Laverty rode a brave race to finish 17th in the 250cc grand prix. Laverty was forced to slow after he charged into 15th place on lap six, having started 21st on the grid.

LAVERTY: “My rear tyre had no grip from about lap nine, and I thought about stopping, it was scary at the end. We took a gamble on the tyre choice, I only did two laps in the warm-up on this tyre, and sometimes these gambles do not pay-off. I could have scored points today.”