A 3-year old bike, a 38-year old rider and a relatively small scale Satellite team, it doesn’t instantly shout Championship winning set-up does it? But add the words Checa, Althea and Ducati 1198 and you’d be mad to overlook them as contenders.

The opening two rounds of the 2011 World Superbike Championship have shocked the paddock, the fans and the bike racing world as we know it. We’ve witnessed the demolishing of three generally accepted truths:

1) Factory teams lead races
2) A newer bike with the latest technology is best
3) The arrival of ‘young blood’ automatically retires the ‘old boys’

With Ducati opting out of a full factory team in the World SBK championship, it’s certain that Ducati Corse are working closely with their satellite teams. The detail of support is pretty closely guarded, but with Althea team owner and manager Genesio Bevilacqua’s close relationship with Ducati it’s safe to assume that factory parts, race data and a degree of financial and technical support is heading their way.

Moving on to the machinery, and without entering the tiresome twin vs. inline-four debate it’s evident that even with its extra couple of hundred CCs the Ducati suffers down the straights. The bike itself is a few years old, but has undergone some strong development over that time and it’s now at the levels of perfection. Add a couple of years of race data and settings to refer back to and it’s safe to say the bike is now reaching its peak. The first two rounds of this season have proven a developed 3-year old Ducati can easily take on the new metal such as the 2011 ZX10R.

The final corner of the race team triangle is the rider and with grand prix and superbike racing legend Carlos Checa piloting the Althea Ducati, you can start to see how this teams slots together so smoothly. With the fresh intake of young riders like Eugene Laverty and Maxime Berger, being fast isn’t enough, Checa has the racing expertise and the track knowledge to take the team to the top. Demonstrated perfectly at Philip Island where Checa and the team worked hard to get the perfect set-up and strategy to secure the double win.

In the first two rounds we’ve already seen the convention of the ideal race team set-up challenged, reassuring us and the industry that no matter what the budget or how fresh the technology and riders, nothing can stop a committed team from challenging at the front of the pack. Bring on the rest of the season, make sure you follow the developments with Momentum.

Images courtesy of www.carloscheca.com read more about the team at www.althearacing.com