Nicolò Bulega – “I think it was my best win in Superbike. The weekend started with the bad crash in FP1 and the widespread pain I had to deal with again today. Compared to Race 1, though, after Toprak overtook me, I could stick to him and prepare the final attack. I thank my team for their great job over the last few days, and I can’t wait to be at Misano in front of so many Italian fans”.
Toprak Razgatlioglu – “The weekend started amazingly for me. We took pole and won the first two races. But in the second main race, I had some bad luck. It was not a technical problem but in the last few sectors on the final lap the bike felt strange. On the straight, I felt some cut and we lost P1. Anyway, it was a hard effort by everyone and we did a really good weekend. I’m just a bit unhappy that we did not do three wins but only two. Overall, it was not bad, we collected important points for the championship and everything else, we will see at the next race.”
Danilo Petrucci – “A truly extraordinary weekend! Yesterday’s race was a bit easier, but this morning I realized how fast Sam Lowes really was. I struggled more today, but when Sam made a mistake in Turn 2 during Race 2, I took my chance right away. We’ve been consistently third, and now we are third in the championship as well. We’re an independent team battling against factory squads, and we can be proud of that. We still have work to do to understand where we can improve, but I’m really happy with what we’ve achieved.”
Sam Lowes – “Obviously I’m happy. Yesterday I was struggling a bit in the long race in terms of rhythm in the second half. I was happy to get a good start in the Superpole race. I was right there, fighting for the podium and just missed out. But I felt like I made a step as I was able to be consistent. In the long race I got another really good start and was able to do ten strong laps with Petrucci just behind. I tried to keep him there but he overtook me. At first, I struggled to stay with him but then I relaxed and was right there again. I tried to get by on the last lap but missed it by 0.1s at the line, or something like that. Overall, it was a good Sunday with two fourth places. I knew this would be a difficult weekend as it’s a track where I really struggled last year. It’s a place which really requires a Superbike riding style and showed a few areas where I still need to work on. But the team did a great job and improved the bike over the weekend – it was better today than yesterday. It was a positive weekend and I got my biggest points haul of the year. We’re going in the right direction so let’s keep working!”
Remy Gardner – “What a way to end the weekend! The sprint race didn’t go well, I wasn’t feeling great on the bike, but we kept pushing and stayed focused on Race 2. That made the difference—I felt much better and could fight with the front group. I had a great start, which helped me get into a good position early. The pace was strong, and I stayed close to the podium group for most of the race. In the final five laps, I managed to open a gap and secure fifth place. A really strong top-5 finish!”
Axel Bassani –“In Race Two the pace was strong; every time we were lapping inside the 1’31s. The feeling with the bike was really good. I was trying to push in an attempt to get inside the fight for P3, but I made a mistake and I lost one position. After that, the pace was quite similar to the other riders. To finish P6 from a starting position of P13 I think is really good. We ended a really hard weekend in a good way. It is important to leave a race weekend with a good sensation, so thank you to the team and see you in Misano.”
Iker Lecuona – “Overall, I’m really happy with the job we’ve done; I think we’ve had a good weekend here at Most. Yesterday we put in a strong performance, and again this morning in the Superpole race. We were close to the podium fight and for a moment I thought we could get there, but it wasn’t to be. The tyre dropped off basically within a lap, and from that point on I could only try to hold my position. I eventually finished P6 after Alvaro passed me, but considering we had four Ducatis and Toprak ahead of us, it was still a positive result for us. In Race 2 I struggled quite a lot with my arm, but I’m still happy because I was able to maintain good pace. I had a small issue with the bike, when downshifting, which was difficult and cost me a bit of time. But honestly, I’m satisfied. I had some nice battles, I saved a huge moment in the last corner of lap three and managed to avoid a crash, so yeah, overall, really happy. Let’s see what happens next time. And last but not least, I hope Xavi makes a speedy recovery.”
Yari Montella – “I want to thank the team, I’ve had so much fun this weekend and we did an amazing job. We’ve made great progress since Friday. In the Superpole Race, we lost a few positions, but it helped us understand what wasn’t working. In Race 2 we went back to a solid base and I immediately found the right feeling. Despite the chaos early on, I made some great overtakes and kept a good pace. We need to keep working consistently and aim even higher.”
Andrea Locatelli – “A not-so-bad Superpole Race, where we gained two positions to be able to start P9 for Race 2 – but then I was in trouble. I was trying to push to the maximum but the feeling did not come and it was simply difficult to ride well. It was a challenging weekend for me because after the crash on Friday I didn’t feel so good physically and it was difficult fighting with the bike. I was trying to do my best, we always try to do the best job that we can – but unfortunately, today we were far away. We need to take a step, we need to look forward and prepare for Misano. Fortunately, we have two days of testing and we will focus to maximise and try to make a good bike set-up to be ready for the next race. After winning in Assen, two bad weekends but we need to forget this and try again.”
Garrett Gerloff – “I think this is our best weekend so far and at least it is getting better, slowly but surely. I am understanding the bike more, I am feeling more comfortable with it and we keep discovering all kinds of stuff. I went to a different map today and it just made the bike so much better, immediately. It is things like that we are learning as a team, and it will take time, but we are going in a good direction. I am excited for the Misano test coming up soon. Maybe I can try some more stuff and make more progress. Thanks to the team because it has been good here in Most, so let’s keep that going.”
Dominique Aegerter – “All things considered, I think we ended the weekend on a fairly positive note. The Superpole Race was very tough, so we decided to change a few things for the afternoon. The team worked really hard, and I was able to push more in Race 2, showing decent pace and making a solid recovery. Gaining eight positions is a good sign, and we believe the pace was there for more. Unfortunately, starting so far back didn’t help, but this is a solid base to build on for the next rounds.”
Jonathan Rea – “All in all, it’s been a positive weekend to be honest because I felt a little bit more competitive than I was in Cremona. I’ve made physical steps forward from the body point of view and also on the bike I felt much more comfortable, Most is also a track I know well. The crash in FP1 just put us on the back foot, but step-by-step throughout the weekend we’ve been making good changes to the R1. Today in the Superpole Race I was really fighting inside the top ten and unfortunately lost out to Loka for the third-row grid start. In Race 2, unfortunately got caught up in a first turn race accident and served two long lap penalties. Alvaro and I committed to the same piece of tarmac and that accident impacted not just his race and Xavi Vierge, but also Alex Lowes who took evasive action, so sorry to them guys. Before that I was feeling really competitive on my R1 and battling in the top five – positions I haven’t been used to for quite some time! It gives me confidence to keep moving forward in Misano and we have a test there to try some new ideas.”
Michael van der Mark – “I started the weekend quite well. In FP1 and FP2, we had a strong pace and good lap times. My feeling with the bike was good, also in FP3 I felt confident. In Superpole, they unfortunately took my lap away because of the yellow flag. So I was starting from P15 which isn’t ideal on this track where it is hard to pass and the differences are so small. In the first race, I was just unlucky in turn 1, being taken out by someone elses crash. It was a big shame but it happens. In the Superpole race, I tried to get into the top nine so I had to pass but unfortunately could not make it. So I started from 15th again. I had a good start and strong first couple of corners but then I struggled a lot with the bike. It was so hard to ride and I couldn’t maintain a good pace. At the end, I lost a few positions again. It was very strange. We had a good start to the weekend but then difficult races. Now I’m looking forward to Misano to make some progress there.”
Alex Lowes –“Unfortunately our Race Two was destroyed on lap one, when there was a big incident. I had to take avoiding action. I had a pretty OK start, honestly, and our starts have been better this weekend. Race Two was frustrating because we had made a change on the bike, but the race was finished straight away. You cannot be 20 seconds behind after the first turn. I tried to keep going to get some good information because of the change on the bike’s set-up. My pace was pretty strong at the end and I was able to keep a good rhythm. We improved a little bit over the last six or seven laps compared to yesterday, which was a target of ours. It was a shame to have the race destroyed by someone else but we have had a pretty good weekend, even if luck was not on our side right at the end. We have a test coming up, which will be important one. Then we have the Misano round, which is a home race for bimota.”
Ryan Vickers – “In the Superpole race this morning we made a big step forward on pace and we made an improvement on the bike. For race 2 I’m personally very happy because I was 10 seconds quicker over the race distance than yesterday, I did every lap in the 1.32s, so it’s a big step forward and we’re definitely faster. The feeling with the bike is better, but we need to make another step to get to our goal, so we had some ideas about what we can do at the Misano test next week. We’re getting faster all the time so we’ll get there. We just need to keep working.”
Xavi Vierge – “Our day didn’t end as we expected after a very positive morning. The first goal was to finish the Superpole race inside the top nine, and we achieved that, showing very good pace and making a strong comeback to finish eighth. With that result, and considering our performance yesterday, we knew we had the potential to run another good Race 2. Unfortunately, my race ended almost immediately. Due to a mistake by another rider, I was hit at turn one and suffered a big highside. It looks like there’s something broken in my right foot, and tomorrow morning, I’ll go to see Dr. Mir in Barcelona for more comprehensive checks. Once again, I want to thank the team, we had another solid weekend, worked really well together, and both of us riders were competitive. That’s something very positive that we need to keep in mind. Now I’m just looking forward to understanding the situation and starting my recovery as soon as possible”.
Alvaro Bautista – “There is little to say. We’ve often talked in Safety Commission about how important it was not to make risky manoeuvres at turn one. The fact that the contact was caused by Johnny, who is not exactly a rookie in this championship, saddens me even more. Luckily, I wasn’t hurt, and at the same time, I feel sorry for Vierge, who was worse off”.
