Lowes And Bassani Join The Cou...

bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team riders Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani will soon compete once again on their exciting bimota KB998 WorldSBK machines - this time during a race weekend which will feature an exceptional landmark for the entire WorldSBK championship. On Sunday 27 July the Tissot-Superpole Race is scheduled to be the 1000th individual race in WorldSBK’s long history.

The forthcoming eighth round of the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship will be held at the Balaton Park circuit in Hungary, between 25-27 July, making it an important round for another significant reason. It marks a return to the central European country for the first time since 1990, when the Hungaroring played host to its third and final WorldSBK weekend.

Both Alex and Axel have ridden at the 4.075km long Balaton Park circuit already, but on stock roadbike versions of the KB998 Rimini, not their full WorldSBK spec machines. This makes the opening day of track action at the new venue as vital as it would be at any other round, even if the BbKRT duo and many of their rivals understand the basic layout of the all-new circuit.

The bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team project has shown great promise from the very start of its debut season this year, and that has now been translated into real on-track results.

Lowes has not only taken a front row qualifying position (at the most recent round in Donington) but led the opening race for two laps, heading up the entire field until losing the front at Craner Curves. Before the Donington weekend Alex had secured a runner-up position in the Misano ‘sprint’ race just a few weeks earlier. So far, Bassani’s best race finish is fifth but he has already taken a front row starting position in Superpole Qualifying, again at Misano in June.

After the previous Donington Park round, in which Lowes injured his left ankle in a Race One fall, Alex sits ninth in the championship rankings, with Axel now 13th overall.

Three days of on-track action await BbKRT at the new Balaton Park venue, starting with two Free Practice sessions on Friday 25 July. Superpole Qualifying and the first full 21-lap WorldSBK Race One will take place on Saturday 26 July. On Sunday there will be the customary ten-lap WorldSBK Superpole Race and then a final 21-lap WorldSBK Race Two.

After the unusual race schedule at the most recent round in the UK, Balaton will feature both ‘long’ WorldSBK races at 14.00 local time each day.

After the Balaton race weekend the main summer break in WorldSBK begins, with the on-track action not restarting until September 5-7, at Magny Cours in France.

Alex Lowes stated: “It’s always nice to be heading to a new venue for WorldSBK. The layout of the track is quite unique, with some slow chicanes and - in general - not very high top speeds. I think the racing should be good there. It’s a new circuit for everyone so Friday is as important as ever. The target is to keep the feeling we had over the last two or three rounds on the KB998. We’ve been trending in a positive direction so it would be nice to keep that going in Balaton. I’ve been focused on trying to recover after my accident at Donington and getting my ankle in the best shape possible for the weekend. I hope to be able to ride without any problem. My main target is to have fun with ‘Team 22’ and see what we can achieve.”

Axel Bassani stated: “This will be a completely new track for everyone. Without a long straight, it could be good for us. There is a lot of hard braking and a lot of corners are taken in first gear. Usually, in the qualifying sessions we have been doing quite a good job, but we need to finish the race with a good pace. This is a new track but we went there with a completely stock bike to learn the circuit, so it was not so easy to understand how the track will be with a full WorldSBK machine. But, this weekend will be the same for everyone at the track, so I think we could do quite a good job. We will try to do our best job, as always, and find a way to take some positive results.”