In Friday’s Superpole Qualifying session, Alcoba finished 11th fastest and Aegerter 20th. After the session, however, each rider was demoted by six grid positions before the start of Race One, after they were deemed to be riding too slowly in some sectors of the track during qualifying.

The final Kawasaki WorldSSP Team grid positions for Race One were 17th for Alcoba and 26th for Aegerter. This meant a sixth row start for Jeremy and a ninth row start for Dominique.

In the opening 19-lap race, held in dry conditions at the 4.212-km-long Czech circuit, Alcoba made good early progress to what would eventually be his final 13th place finishing position.  

For Aegerter, the first race was a particularly tough challenge, with the two-time World Champion showing his battling qualities to get into a final 18th place.

In Race Two on Sunday 17 May, Alcoba will start from 12th place on the grid and Aegerter 20th. 

Jeremy Alcoba, stated: “I knew it would be a difficult weekend because we are struggling a lot in all areas. I gave my best in Race One and my start was quite good. I stayed in the second group all the time and I tried to fight with them. We received a penalty after yesterday, so I had to start in 17th place, but tomorrow I will start nearer the front. For sure, that should help us at least in the first laps. The target now is to see the data from today and improve a bit, because in the last laps of Race One we were quite fast. Let’s keep pushing.”

Dominique Aegerter, stated: “We tried something this morning in the warm-up session, but it was very cold, so we did not find the right direction. So, we went back to a setting that we know. Starting very far back on the grid does not help, and there are a lot of fights in the positions closer to the back. When I had the pace, I think it was not too bad and I could overtake some riders until the end. But, to finish out of the points is very disappointing. We will work hard to improve and find a better way to work to have a good feeling and stronger results. I hope Race Two will be better.”