Final 2011 WSBK Championship standings

Carlos Checa completes the 2011 World Superbike Championship with 15 race wins and a winning margin of 110 points over Marco Melandri.

Ollie Barstow

16 Oct 2011

Checa, Portuguese WSBK Race 1 2011
© Gold and Goose

The World Superbike Championship is over for another season and Carlos Checa can feel very satisfied with a set of very impressive-looking statistics.

Taking 15 victories in 26 races, Checa is the 'winningest' rider over a single season since Doug Polen back in 1991, while he is also the first man to crack 500 points since Colin Edwards and Troy Bayliss in 2002.

Following up in second place is Marco Melandri, the Italian completing an excellent first season in World Superbikes, and one that makes you wonder why Yamaha is pulling the plug when it would almost certainly be a title favourite with the former MotoGP rider in 2012.

Behind them, Max Biaggi scrapes third, the Italian's charging ride from 17th to fourth in the first race ultimately making the difference as he finished level with Eugene Laverty. In the end, Biaggi's greater number of second places (nine compared with two) would earn him the spot he would likely have secured anyway had he not been injured.

Though it wasn't a victory contender as hoped, BMW can be very pleased with fifth in the standings thanks to the ever-reliable Leon Haslam, while fourth in the manufacturers' standings represents a vast improvement for the German firm as it gets ready to welcome Melandri.

From the low of an injury that hampered him over the opening rounds, Sylvain Guintoli was mightily impressive in the second-half of the year, his consistent results, which included nine top six results in the final ten races, helping him leapfrog Leon Camier for sixth overall and secure a good finish for WSBK newcomers Effenbert Liberty Ducati.

Camier ends his second season with Aprilia a somewhat frustrated seventh, ahead of Noriyuki Haga, whose burst of form at Imola helped him fend off Jonathan Rea - who bounced from 12th to ninth in the final round - and Ayrton Badovini, the Italian doing a fine job of claiming an overall top ten on the previously unfaniced BMW Italia.

Just missing out on the top ten, WSBK rookie Joan Lascorz's greater consistency nonetheless earned him bragging rights over Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes in 11th, the Spaniard surpassing Michel Fabrizio, whose poor end to the year with Suzuki saw him drop from a high of sixth to an eventual 12th. Sykes, Jakub Smrz and retiring former champion Troy Corser complete the top fifteen.

In the manufacturers' standings, Ducati end the year 79 points up on the outgoing Yamaha, while 2010 champions Aprilia had to settle for third on this occasion.

2011 World Superbike Championship rider standings (After round 13 of 13, previous round position in brackets)

1.(1) Carlos Checa Althea Ducati 505 points2.(2) Marco Melandri Yamaha SBK 3953.(4) Max Biaggi Aprilia Alitalia 3034.(3) Eugene Laverty Yamaha SBK 3035.(5) Leon Haslam BMW Motorrad 2246.(7) Sylvain Guintoli Effenbert-Liberty Ducati 2107.(6) Leon Camier Aprilia Alitalia 2088.(8) Noriyuki Haga PATA Aprilia 1769.(12) Jonathan Rea Castrol Honda 17010.(9) Ayrton Badovini BMW Italia 16511.(11) Joan Lascorz Kawasaki Racing 16112.(10) Michel Fabrizio Suzuki Alstare 15213.(13) Tom Sykes Kawasaki RTS 14114.(14) Jakub Smrz Effenbert-Liberty Ducati 12715.(15) Troy Corser BMW Motorrad 8716.(17) Maxime Berger Supersonic Ducati 6417.(16) Ruben Xaus Castrol Honda 4918.(18) Roberto Rolfo Pedercini Kawasaki 4219.(19) Mark Aitchison Pedercini Kawasaki 3620.(20) John Hopkins Samsung Crescent Suzuki 2021.(21) Chris Vermeulen Kawasaki Racing 1422.(22) James Toseland BMW Italia 1323.(23) Javier Fores BMW Italia 1224.(24) Lorenzo Lanzi BMW Italia 1025.(25) Josh Waters Yoshimura Suzuki 826.(26) Federico Sandi Althea Ducati 727.(27) Alessandro Polita Barni Ducati 528.(28) Matteo Baiocco Barni Ducati 429.(-) Davide Giugliano Althea Ducati 430.(29) Barry Veneman BMW Italia 331.(30) Jon Kirkham Samsung Crescent Suzuki 332.(31) Bryan Staring Pedercini Kawasaki 133.(32) Fabrizio Lai Echo CRS Honda 134.(33) Alex Lowes Castrol Honda 135.(34) Viktor Kispataki Prop-Tech Honda 1