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Before leaving for Germany's Nurburgring circuit and the 10th round of the 2011 World Superbike Championship, Team Althea Racing's Carlos Checa took time to visit the Ducati factory in Borgo Panigale, Bologna and celebrate with the management and technicians of the Italian manufacturer.

Passing the historic milestone of 300 World Superbike race victories for Ducati was an honour taken by Checa onboard his Ducati 1198 in race one of the Silverstone round of the series in July, a victory that he dedicated to Ducati by autographing the celebratory graphic that currently welcomes visitors to the main reception area of the Bologna factory.

Ducati management officially thanked Checa for his incredible achievements so far this season before celebrations continued with the staff of Ducati Corse in the race department of the company.

Ducati's historic 300 race wins in the World Superbike Championship started with victory for Marco Lucchinelli in the first ever World Superbike race at Donington Park, England in 1988 and continued as 25 more Ducati-mounted riders wrote themselves into the pages of motorcycle racing history. Legendary riders such as Carl Fogarty, Doug Polen, Raymond Roche, Troy Corser, Giancarlo Falappa, Neil Hodgson, Pierfrancesco Chili, Ben Bostrom, James Toseland, Noriyuki Haga, Troy Bayliss and many others up until the current World Championship leader, Carlos Checa. The victories have generated a total of 155 Ducati pole positions, 753 podiums, 13 Rider's and 16 Manufacturers' World Championship titles.