Superpole Qualifying on Saturday morning, which determines the Race One grid positions for each rider, was held in dry and bright conditions. Alex was finally fourth fastest, earning a starting spot at the head of the second row. Axel, who had slow-speed fall into the first chicane early in Superpole, ended up recovering to 12th place on the Race One grid.

In the opening 22-lap race of the Czech weekend Alex made the most of his positive starting position to run inside the top few places throughout.

He would be passed on lap five by his brother and rival Sam, but Alex would re-pass him on lap 12 and then create a small gap to earn his fourth place finish.
This top four result in a full WorldSBK race was the best single placing of the year for the new bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team project, which is now augmented by the availability of the customer version of the KB998 Rimini in bimota showrooms. 

Alex’s 13 points from Race One place propelled him into the top ten in the overall championship rankings. He now sits ninth, with two more Most WorldSBK races to come on Sunday.

Axel found some issues he had to deal with during the opening race, which held back his race pace and saw him finishing in 12th position, replicating his Superpole qualifying position. Axel is also 12th in the overnight points rankings.

Sunday’s Superpole Race, over ten laps as usual, will be followed by the final 22-lap WorldSBK race of the weekend at Autodrom Most.

Alex Lowes stated: “I am happy with the race result of fourth place and to be mixing it with a group of Ducatis was good. I was able to keep the pace. In Cremona, last time out, even though we finished 11th, my pace was strong. I was able to battle there and we made some changes to the front of the bike set-up on Sunday. We know that if you are not on the fastest bike I the grid, qualifying is so important to put yourself in the right position from the start of the race. Sectors Two and Three at Most were unbelievable on the bimota KB998. I feel it is a match for any of the other machines - if not actually having some advantages in Sector Three in terms of how the bike turns. By putting yourself in a good track position from the start of the race, focusing on yourself, reeling off some good laps, then you can stay there at the front. I was happy to keep the pace so consistently and so strongly today. We were not really close to the podium places in terms of overall race time, but it’s better than we have done before so we have to be happy with fourth.”

Axel Bassani stated: “Race One was quite difficult because from the beginning I had some problem with the front brake and so the feeling was not the best. With the rear, it was spinning a lot and it has never been like this before. Now we have to understand these things. But, we still finished 12th, so we got some points. Congratulations to Alex for finishing P4, the best bimota result so far; so I am happy for him and the team.”