Superpole Race Top Five For Lo...

On the final day of track action at the 4.411km-long Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, the bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team riders Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani took part in two WorldSBK races, with the best single result proving to be a fifth place for Alex.

In the ten-lap Superpole ‘Sprint’ Race, which started at 11.10 local time, Lowes set a consistent level of pace to fight inside the top few places, from the first lap to the last. He ended up fifth, and just over half a second from the rider in front, Alberto Surra.

Alex was the first non-Ducati rider home, despite his bimota KB998 Rimini having been given a reduction in its permitted maximum fuel flow rate of 0.5kg/h, under the 2026 season balancing rules. The other competing manufacturers’ figures were either increased or left as they were for this weekend.

Axel’s fortunes in the Superpole Race waxed and waned, as he moved up to ninth place, then lost several places as he ran wide, before getting back up to 11th position at the flag.

After the Superpole Race - which determines the starting positions of the top nine riders for the final full-distance Race Two - Alex started from fifth spot on the grid, with Bassani 17th.

The second Sunday race, scheduled for 21 laps but eventually run over only 19 when a crash for another rider brought out red flags to stop the contest on safety grounds, saw Alex in fifth place in the early stages. He remained there right up to the 11th lap, when he fell entering the T5 hairpin, trying to get ahead of Surra. He remounted to finish 13th and score points.

For Bassani, Race Two was eventually rewarding as he finished ninth, from a grid position of 17th, and he took his second points score of the weekend.

In the championship rankings, Alex remains fourth overall and Axel seventh, with 201 and 169 points, respectively.

The next round of the championship, the tenth round of the 12-round season, will take place at the Italian circuit of Cremona, between 25-27 September.

Alex Lowes, stated: “Fifth in the Superpole Race was quite good but it was a disappointing end to the weekend. I was riding the bike on the limit and in the final race I wanted to try to get past Alberto Surra, maybe dreaming about the podium. Maybe that was unrealistic and possibly I was pushing 110% to try to stay with the group of Ducatis. I was a little bit out of the line and I was going to hit the back of him, so I just went a bit wider. I did not want to blow the corner, because Baldassarri was catching up. I tried to put the bike into the turn and I had such a small crash on the front. The punishment does not really fit the crime. I feel I did my maximum all weekend. When I got back on the bike it was quite bent and I did not have a footpeg on the right-hand side, but we were still quite competitive. Thank you to everyone for the support and we will try again at the next round to see if we can get a bit closer to the podium.”

Axel Bassani, stated: “Each day has been difficult since we arrived in Magny-Cours. We arrived in Race Two with similar difficulties as we had from Friday morning. We tried everything and worked hard with the team to try to fix the problem, but it was not possible. Starting from P17 is always difficult. We made a big recovery in Race One yesterday, and also in the Superpole Race. After six laps, I was in P9, but then there was a small technical problem and I went long in one corner, lost a lot of places, and had to start again from 17th position. In Race Two, I tried to recover the maximum number of places, finished P9 and we got some points. In the end, we fixed the weekend a little bit, so thank you to the team for all their work.”