Popular Home Venue Next Up For BbKRT

The seventh round of the 2026 FIM Superbike World Championship will take place between 12-14 June, at the bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team’s almost literal home venue of Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’. Once more, Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani will compete for the official BbKRT squad as the second half of the latest season begins on the Adriatic coast of Italy in a few days’ time.

With bimota’s HQ located just a few kilometres away, Misano is always a special round for the manufacturer. Add to the pre-race mix that Bassani is Italian, and the 4.226km long circuit really will host a hometown event for BbKRT in many regards.

Misano ends a run of five alternating WorldSBK race weekends - with one weekend on, then one weekend off since Assen in April. There can be few more popular places to compete at just before a short summer break in the season than the seaside circuit of Misano.

This will not be BbKRT’s first visit to Misano this year, as the team joined many others in an important mid-season test session, between 20-21 May, when the opportunity to develop the WorldSBK spec bimota KB998 Rimini machine was taken up. The test was also a useful period in which to make specific set-up preparations in readiness for the forthcoming Misano race weekend.

Misano is one of the most visited WorldSBK venues of all, from its first use in 1991 to the current day. There have been 70 individual races held at Misano, on four different track layouts. Misano was originally raced in the opposite direction to the current 4.226km design, which was first adopted in 2008. Last year, Alex scored a podium on his KB998 in the ten-lap ‘Sprint Race’ at Misano, while Axel qualified on the front row after Superpole.

At the halfway point of the championship campaign, Alex is fourth overall, with 132 points, and Axel is seventh, with 109. Both have already secured podium finishes in 2026, at the opening round in Australia.

Track action gets underway at Misano on 12 June, with two 45-minute Free Practice sessions. Saturday for the WorldSBK class starts with a short FP3 session, then Superpole Qualifying, and ends with a full-distance Race One, to be held over 21 laps. Sunday 17 June will feature a short morning warm-up session, then the now-traditional ten-lap Superpole Race, and ultimately a second 21-lap Race Two.

After the Misano race weekend is complete, the eighth round will take place at Donington Park in the UK, between 10-12 July, after a mini-summer break in on-track action.

Alex Lowes, stated: “I am looking forward to getting to Misano because it is always a fantastic week. The circuit is great and everyone enjoys it. In terms of the track itself, it is a fun layout, and the Curvone is definitely special. One of the fastest corners on the whole calendar. For me, personally, it is in the first sector that I need to improve as in the other three sectors we are not too bad. The main priority on Friday is to improve sector one to help me fight for a good result on the weekend. We had a test at Misano last month, which was positive. Misano is also a home race for bimota so it is going to be a busy weekend. But hopefully, with good memories from last year, we can work hard with the guys on Friday and our target as always is to challenge for the podium places. If we can’t do that then it is to achieve the best results possible. I am really looking forward to it and I am going to enjoy all the weekend with lots of friends and family there - from my side and also from the team side, as it is bimota and Axel’s home race. It is going to be a lot of fun. ”

Axel Bassani, stated: “Soon we will race at Misano and it is a home round for bimota and me. It is always special to race at home but at the same time it is not easy to control all the pressure we have at this kind of round. You have to be good, fast and always like that. But I will try to approach it like a normal race weekend, like we have done up to now. We will try to be consistent and continue the work we did in the last round at Motorland Aragon, when we had a good feeling and a good sensation on the bike. I am happy the way we are working in the team and we will try to be calm - but also really focus and concentrate on the work we have to do. We will try to do our maximum, take some points and continue our season.”