FIM Superbike World Championship
Cremona Circuit
WorldSBK of Italy
Jeremy Alcoba Makes Kawasaki History with WorldSSP Double Victory at Cremona
Kawasaki celebrated a historic weekend at Cremona Circuit, highlighted by Jeremy Alcoba sweeping both WorldSSP races to become the first Kawasaki rider to claim a double victory since the championship adopted its two-race format in 2020. The pair of wins marked a milestone weekend for Alcoba and Kawasaki, while strong performances continued across the WorldSBK paddock. Garrett Gerloff and Alex Lowes each battled to Top 5 finishes in WorldSBK competition, with Gerloff securing fifth in Race 1 and Lowes matching the result in Race 2. In WorldSPB competition, Xavi Artigas of MTM Kawasaki added another victory to the weekend in Race 1, before following it with a runner-up finish in Race 2, keeping him second in the championship standings.
WorldSBK Results
Jeremy Alcoba
WorldSSP
“I am really happy. I cannot say that I did not expect this because on Friday I felt really good. The rider always takes things more personally from the second race than the first when he goes home, so that made me a bit more nervous today, but I was trying to control myself and stay focused. I knew that other riders could improve from yesterday and that this race would be longer. I was struggling a bit after seven laps yesterday, so today I decided to be smarter and smoother, and I felt like I was fast. When I saw that [Albert] Arenas and [Tom] Booth-Amos were in first and second place, I decided to pass [Filippo] Farioli and [Valentin] Debise, and I was there with the leading riders. Not too close because I knew that the front tire pressure could go up when inside the slipstream. I was riding more with the front than the rear right then. I almost lost the front in some corners, and I was close to crashing, but I stayed focused. I studied the riders in front, and I knew where I was faster, so when I passed Arenas I tried to defend in the sectors where he was faster. Another victory for the team and me in Cremona.”
Dominique Aegerter
WorldSSP
“We finished in 12th place, but for sure I wanted more. We started in 15th place on the grid, so we had a very hard early battle. I had a good start, but in the first laps I did not have enough power to attack. In the middle of the race, I was very competitive, and I could overtake a few riders. We struggled a little bit in the last few laps, because I pushed on every lap I could. It was positive this weekend, and we took a step forward, just not where we want to be. We have two more rounds in Estoril and Jerez, and for sure we will do our best. Again, big congratulations to my teammate Jeremy Alcoba, who won the first and second race. It is cool to see that the bike works and that when everything goes together, we can be fast.”
Alex Lowes
WorldSBK
“It was a better Sunday for us. We made a bigger change than we normally would in a race weekend between Race 1 and the warm-up session today. It felt really good in the cooler conditions of the Superpole Race, so we stuck with it for Race 2 in the afternoon. It felt really good again, but there were a couple of points on the front where I was a little bit nervous, and the bike was sliding a bit. Apart from that, I think we were faster, and I was a lot closer to the Independent Ducatis, which was our target. I was also a little bit closer to the front of the race compared to yesterday. We have to be really happy because we made some good progress, made no mistakes, and enjoyed the final Cremona race. It was not an easy track here, but there were lots of fans, and it was a great weekend. We did our best, and we will keep pushing to get a bit better.”
Garrett Gerloff
WorldSBK
“It was not the easiest of days. In the Superpole Race, I had a good start and was able to get up to about seventh, I think. Then Baldassarri and I came together in Turn 7, and we both ended up going down. I got flicked pretty hard, so I am just happy to be standing here. In Race 2, I tried my best. I got a good start again, but I struggled a bit. I felt like I was a bit tight and riding a bit tense. I don’t know if it was just my body being tight. I tried to relax and flow, but in the end, I was struggling quite a bit, with the tires also. A Top 8 finish is decent for the team. I am happy that this weekend went OK for them at their home round, and happy to be leaving here healthy and heading to the next race.”
Axel Bassani
WorldSBK
“It was quite a difficult round, and in the Superpole race in the morning, we arrived last, which was the first time for me. A new experience. This afternoon, we started the race, and my feeling was really good in the first laps. I tried to battle a little bit with Garrett Gerloff, but in the last six laps, I started to struggle a lot with the front and also the rear. So, I had to slow down a little bit. We lost some time and finished P9, but we took some more points for the championship, which is good. Now we have one week to relax, and then we will go fully focused on the last two rounds of the championship. We can fight for P6 in the rankings, and we are very near, so we will try our maximum.”
