Challenging Sunday For BbKRT R...

The bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team riding duo of Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani found misfortune to varying degrees on the final day of track action at the Donington Park round of the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship.

After earning a starting spot on the front row of the grid for Saturday’s opening WorldSBK race, Lowes was to fall from a leading position and injure his left ankle. He rode in the Sunday morning warm-up session but he was not able to move around the bike or shift gears fast enough to allow him to ride competitively.

It was ultimately decided that he should not race the bimota KB998 Rimini in either the ten-lap Superpole Race or the 23-lap Race Two.

Bassani began the Sunday morning’s Superpole Race from 17th position on the starting grid and finished in 14th place. In the subsequent long-format final race of the Donington weekend Axel was 16th, just missing out on a championship point by one position.

In the championship rankings, after seven rounds and 21 individual races, Alex is ninth overall and Axel is 13th.

After a break of one single weekend the championship will get underway again at the eighth round - and at an all-new circuit in Hungary - between 25-27 July. Balaton Park is the latest new facility to join the honour roll of circuits to be used as a WorldSBK host venue.

Alex Lowes stated: “Obviously it was a disappointing Sunday for us. After the crash yesterday my foot got caught by my bike’s rear wheel, and I overextended my ankle. This morning we tried riding in the warm up session. There was not massive pain but I didn’t have enough movement to get into the position I needed to on the bike. I also felt my movements were not fast enough. With this in mind, if we could not ride in a proper way we decided to miss the races on Sunday. Not just for me, but for the other riders around me. We just have to take the positives from the weekend - which was the speed that we had, the speed that the bike showed, being able to qualify on the front row, being fast every session and leading a race. The potential is there, the project is growing and we need to keep this momentum for the next round in Hungary in a couple of weeks.”

Axel Bassani stated: “Sunday at Donington meant a difficult Superpole Race and Race Two. The feeling didn’t really improve from yesterday, so it was difficult for me to ride like I wanted, to push or to overtake. This meant we were outside the points in both races. Now, we have to understand why these kind of races happen. We will try to improve, continue to believe and never give up.”