The Tissot Superpole of WorldSBK bears its name from the well-known Swiss watch manufacturer, which is also the title sponsor of the Czech Superbike round for the premiere at the Autodrom Most.

Rea as the new Mister Superpole for the sixth time, ahead of Toprak and Redding

After Toprak had managed to surprise some observers with a fabulous time in FP1, it became clear in the third free practice session that he was clearly the only one to have driven this with a qualifier. The other drivers, on the other hand, only drove with the SCX tire developed for the Superpole Race in their best time and thus all lost more than half a second on the Turks. However, he was only fourth in FP3 on Saturday morning behind Redding, Rea and team-mate Locatelli. Jonas Folger (BMW) was the only one who fell. While the third free practice session in Moto3 brought some surprises, although no KTM in their home country had made it into the top ten, the world was back on balance at WorldSBK. In the quarter of an hour of the Superpole, three Yamaha’s were in the first four after the first 5 minutes. With Locatelli ahead of Toprak, Kawasaki Ass Rea, Gerloff, Sykes and Bautista, a Ducati was missing from the top six after the first quarter. That changed, however, when Scott Redding set the fastest time at half-time.

Mercado replacement rider Valentin Debise on the MIE Honda in FP2 – the second free practice session literally fell into the water almost completely on Friday afternoon. This reduced the preparation for Superpole and the first race to two dry training sessions.

The decision in the fight for the best starting grid
Shortly after the Englishman, it was the World Cup leader who topped his time six minutes before the end and took the lead and thus the provisional pole position. Jonathan Rea had a 1’32.120 with his Kawasaki ZX-10RR and was 0.185 seconds faster than Redding. Tom Sykes was the next to beat his time, but failed because of Rea’s mark. Only Razgatlioglu managed to do this a little later, and Redding would have succeeded without yellow flags. But the reigning world champion managed, despite problems in the first half with drivers who stopped him, in the end to the sixth pole position in the 6th round of the championship of the year.

The starting line-up for the WorldSBK premiere in Most

P, No, Rider, Bike, Time(,Gap), km/h
1, 1, REA Jonathan, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’31.684, , 286
2, 54, RAZGATLIOGLU Toprak, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’31.751, 0.067, 287
3, 45, REDDING Scott, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’32.158, 0.474, 291
4, 66, SYKES Tom, BMW M 1000 RR, 1’32.173, 0.489, 286
5, 31, GERLOFF Garrett, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’32.238, 0.554, 287
6, 55, LOCATELLI Andrea, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’32.335, 0.651, 289
7, 91, HASLAM Leon, Honda CBR1000 RR-R, 1’32.352, 0.668, 289
8, 21, RINALDI Michael Ruben, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’32.530, 0.846, 295
9, 22, LOWES Alex, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’32.559, 0.875, 289
10, 47, BASSANI Axel, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’32.911, 1.227, 290
11, 19, BAUTISTA Alvaro, Honda CBR1000 RR-R, 1’32.928, 1.244, 292
12, 17, FRITZ Marvin, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’33.164, 1.480, 282
13, 98, HANIKA Karel, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’33.249, 1.565, 283
14, 52, DELBIANCO Alessandro, Honda CBR1000 RR-R, 1’33.434, 1.750, 285
15, 53, RABAT Tito, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’33.470, 1.786, 289
16, 7, DAVIES Chaz, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’33.607, 1.923, 289
17, 60, VAN DER MARK Michael, BMW M 1000 RR, 1’33.994, 2.310, 289
18, 3, NOZANE Kohta, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’34.167, 2.483, 286
19, 32, VINALES Isaac, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’34.280, 2.596, 285
20, 23, PONSSON Christophe, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’34.444, 2.760, 283
21, 94, FOLGER Jonas, BMW M 1000 RR, 1’34.499, 2.815, 289
22, 84, CRESSON Loris, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’35.330, 3.646, 281
23, 14, URIBE Jayson, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’36.118, 4.434, 278

Scott Redding (Aruba.it) on the fastest Ducati ahead of Leon Haslam (HRC Honda), who will start the race with seventh place four on the grid ahead of his Honda team-mate Alvaro Bautista.

The first interviews after Superpole
I had some traffic in Sector 2, but then things went even better on the best lap after that. However, I didn’t expect to make it to pole anyway. So I said to myself that the first row was good enough, but it was enough in the end. Toprak came in second, satisfied, even if his face didn’t speak the same language. As usual, he stopped short and said that he wanted to do his best in the afternoon. Scott Redding was very disappointed on his fastest lap due to the yellow flag, which cancelled his best time. With the third-best time on a used qualifier, he would at least have achieved the optimum. You could already see the anger of the Ducati ace on the run-out lap when he hit the tank of his Ducati in anger. On the other hand, however, he was aware that points would only be awarded in the afternoon and with the first row on the grid he is one of the best starting positions.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki ZX-10RR) was right at the front on Friday, but will only start the first race from the third row in the afternoon after 9th place in the Superpole (© Kawasaki Racing Team).

The voices of the Kawasaki factory riders after the first impression

Alex Lowes: „It was a shame not to do a dry session in FP2 to get more laps as the rest of the weekend looks like it might be dry. The first track experience this morning was pretty good. I enjoyed the layout as this circuit has some really nice corners. In the first section the asphalt is different from the other sectors, which also makes it feel very different, but apart from that it is a very interesting route. It looks like the races are all about changing directions and a lot of corners leading into the next, so the bike has to be really agile. We tried to change the setup this afternoon, but we didn’t have a chance because of the rain. I think the best plan is to try again in the morning at FP3. Hopefully it will be dry, and we can try what we wanted.“

Jonathan Rea: „The bike was pretty good today. I had no expectation to come here because there is no real footage or TV coverage to watch. I did a track walk with the guys on the team on Thursday, and the biggest decision we have to make now is the final translation. There are a lot of corners in second and third gear, and I felt something between good and bad at times. I’ve learned the route pretty well, and there are a few little tricks I can use to get the tire sliding early to gain meters on the exit; Use fewer or more curbs. We were lucky because FP1 was uninterrupted, so I was able to do a lot of laps without any problems. We made a small change and went back to end the session, so I pulled a lot of information from it. Unfortunately, the second session where we set out to confirm what we needed to do was wet. A positive first day and pleasantly surprised by the feeling of the route.“

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR) as one of the most rookies, ahead of Jonas Folger (BMW M-1000RR) as one of the few drivers of the circuit in the north of the Czech Republic who are familiar with the route.

The Autodrom of Most

The route sketch of Most, a course that is roughly the opposite of the Red Bull Ring and extremely demanding with 21 corners. It is also questionable whether the asphalt is suitable for the World Championship, which some voices had already questioned in advance.

Stand in the WorldSBK world championships after Round 5 in Assen Park

With 8 wins in 15 races, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) is the clear world championship leader and the man to beat.

Stand in the WorldSSP 600 world championships after round 4 in Assen

WorldSBK Most schedule

Dorna’s insight into this came very late, but at least those responsible for SBK understood it on August 3rd and announced that the WSSP 300 would start first at 1:45 p.m. on Sunday. In order to avoid a collision with MotoGP in Spielberg for at least Sunday, WorldSBK starts at 3:15 p.m. local time. After all, the second run is left on Sunday afternoon to show it live on TV. Otherwise, however, as expected, the MotoGP has priority in their broadcasts on practically all broadcasters. Because Dorna communicated this so late and 3 days before the start, we did not correct it in the following schedule.

As the culmination of the bad planning by FIM and Dorna, the first race of the WorldSBK overlaps with the qualifying of the MotoGP in Spielberg and the Superpole Race on Sunday morning will take place at the same time as the Moto3 Grand Prix of Styria. There are also scheduling conflicts for the WorldSSP 600, which is the main reason that almost nothing is broadcast live on TV. An absolute disgrace for the sport and a slap in the face for fans, drivers, teams and sponsors of the near-series World Championship!

>WSBK Most Preview see separate report on this page.

Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© WorldSBK).