Delayed First Race At Most See...

bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team (BbKRT) riders Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes had to make two starts to the opening race at Most, but in the final analysis each rider improved on the qualifying position to secure a fifth and a seventh place, respectively.

In Superpole Qualifying, held on the morning of Saturday 16 May, Bassani was ranked seventh and Alex Lowes 15th, after Alex had suffered falls in FP3 and then Superpole Qualifying itself.

Bassani thus launched from the third row of the grid, and Alex from row five. After a heavy fall suffered by Danilo Petrucci on lap one, the first Most WorldSBK race was red-flagged and restarted as a 21-lap contest, not the planned 22-lap version.

Axel had a moment of drama as he had to run-on at the first corner when another rider braked in an unexpected way. Bassani had to lose one second from his expected lap time to avoid being given a long lap penalty. He recovered his pace in fine style and finished just 0.474 seconds behind Kawasaki rider Garrett Gerloff.

After working with a different set-up on his KB998 Rimini machine in the earlier parts of the weekend, Lowes went back to a more familiar set-up for the first race itself. He made great progress through the 21 laps, moving forward at every opportunity and ending up seventh.

Sunday will feature the traditional ten-lap Superpole Race and then a second and final 22-lap Race Two.

Alex Lowes, stated: “It was a difficult Saturday for us, and it looks like in terms of my feeling with the bike, we have been a bit out of our ‘window’. We had our worst Superpole Qualifying of the year, unfortunately, but in the race, we made a really good comeback after we changed the bike quite a lot. I made a really good launch in the first start; in the second start, not so much, but you have to be really lucky with the first corner. I was pleased with the bike set-up, and our pace was good. We came from 15th in Superpole to seventh, so we have to be happy because this is not an easy track to pass on. We made some good moves and gained a lot of places, so let’s see if we can improve myself and the bike for Sunday. We had a positive result after a difficult day.”

Axel Bassani, stated: “I did a normal Superpole Qualifying. I went out alone and focused only on myself. We started in P7, which is really good. I expected nothing in particular before the race, but I just knew I would try my best and finish as close to the front as possible. For sure, the mistake I made to go straight at the chicane didn’t help me, but it was not really a mistake as I braked like normal, but Surra braked like 30 metres before us, so I had to pick up the bike and go straight. Then I had to lose one second of lap time, and it is really difficult to understand if you have lost a second or not, so that you do not get a long lap penalty. I pushed really hard to recover the time I lost, and in the end, I finished in fifth position, which is like to win for us at the moment, so I am really happy. For tomorrow, I will try to make a step in some places to be faster, but we are not really bad right now.”