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Two Kawasaki Race Winners During Eventful Motorland Weekend
In the new FIM Sportbike World Championship category for 2026, the fourth round of the season proved to be a largely successful one for Kawasaki, with both race wins being awarded to Ninja ZX-6R 636 riders.
David Salvador (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI) in a short Race 1 and Xavi Artigas (MTM Kawasaki) in the second full-distance race were the two Kawasaki riders who earned the right to stand on the top of the race podiums, first on Saturday, May 30, and then Sunday, May 31.
In Superpole qualifying, which is held on Friday afternoon, the very hot conditions did not deter Salvador, who secured pole position for the first race of the weekend with a 1:59.433 lap time. Salvador was over half a second faster than his nearest challenger.
Next fastest Ninja rider in Superpole was proven winner in this new class, Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki), in seventh place overall. Loris’ teammate Artigas was ninth in Superpole qualifying, and Alvaro Fuertes (Deza-Box 77 Racing Team Kawasaki) 10th. Antonio Torres (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI) was 11th, placing five Ninjas inside the Top 11 pre-Race 1 grid positions.
The exhaustingly hot conditions that characterised this Motorland Aragon weekend in many ways only slightly reduced for Race 1 on Saturday, with 87°F air and 123°F asphalt temperatures evident at the start of the race.
A dramatic event just after the start saw a rider and machine crash and remain right in the middle of the track, bringing out the red flags in what was supposed to be an 11-lap race.
Once the track had been made safe again, and with the stricken rider not suffering any serious injury, the race was rescheduled as a five-lap contest.
Once again, pole man Salvador got a good start, but he would soon fight with Aprilia rider Matteo Vannucci, and many others.
On the frantic final lap, seven riders were in with a realistic chance of the win, but it was to be Salvador who took the laurels, by resisting the charge of another Ninja ZX-6R 636 rider, Artigas.
Torres placed fourth, with Veneman the seventh rider across the finish line, and yet just 0.834 seconds back on Salvador.
There were thus four Kawasaki riders inside the Top 7 places. In a wider topic of interest for the championship as a whole, six different riders had won races in the first seven races of 2026.
Fuertes was a strong 11th place finisher, earning five championship points, with his teammate Jose Osuna (Deza-Box 77 Racing Team Kawasaki) just missing a point in 16th place. Julian Correa (Pons Motosport Italika Racing) was 17th.
Roberto Fernandez (MTM Kawasaki) was riding as a wild card this weekend, and he secured a 20th place finish from the 31 riders who entered the race weekend in Spain.
The second race went the full distance, but some top competitors did not. Even some of those who crossed the line found themselves punished for various rules infringements, including two riders who were temporarily credited with the race win.
First of all, Elia Bartolini (Triumph) was adjudged to have knocked off Torres with three laps of the usual frenetic race action to go, with eight riders fighting in the leading group at that time.
Bartolini crossed the finish line first and took the checkered flag, but having been given a long lap penalty that he did not serve, he was penalized with a three-second time penalty by the officials and was finally ranked sixth.
That made Torres the race winner, until he was also penalized for contact with Vannucci that saw the Aprilia rider fall on the final lap. He was also dropped down the order to finish seventh.
With all these regulatory interventions going on after the race was ended, the final race results went in favour of an intensely emotional Artigas. He stopped trackside at his home venue and draped himself in a flag with the name of the late Pau Alsina, who lost his life in a racing accident at the Motorland Aragon track last year.
On the top step of the podium, Artigas broke down in tears at the emotion of winning at this particular track, and was consoled by his MTM team manager, Ludo Van der Veken. It was at once a remarkably moving moment of reflection and a time of joy and satisfaction for all involved in this famous race win.
In fifth place, Fuertes had his best result of the season for the highly respected Deza-Box 77 Racing Team, a Kawasaki squad racing at its home round this weekend.
Torres was seventh after his penalty, with Osuna ninth and American rider Correa 10th. The final Kawasaki points scorer in the second race was wildcard MTM Kawasaki rider Fernández.
Loris Veneman was one of the riders who got caught up in one of many Race 2 incidents, no-scoring at around half race distance after a crash that also involved Kas Beekmans (Suzuki).
Juan Risueno (Pons Motosport Italika Racing) was 20th in Race 2, after finishing 21st in the opener.
After four rounds and thus half of the season for the WorldSPB class, even after several leading Kawasaki riders found misfortune in the second race, the Top 3 places in the Championship standings are occupied by Kawasaki riders.
Salvador leads with 126 points, his teammate Torres is second with 113, and Artigas has now moved into third place on 109 points, thanks to one podium and one race-winning ride at his home round.
Five of the eight race wins this season have been taken by Kawasaki riders, and seven different riders have won races, irrespective of their machinery.
Kawasaki still leads the Manufacturers' Championship, now with 174 points to Suzuki’s 116 and Triumph’s 101.
In the Team Standings, Team Prodina Kawasaki XCI leads MTM Kawasaki by 239 points to 170.
The next round of the championship will be held at the Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’, from June 12-14
“It was a very strange second race, and it was hard even from the beginning because, as I said yesterday, the Aprilia is one step forward on the straights, so fighting like this for them seems easier as they can overtake a lot on the straights. But we managed our cards well to stay strong in the rankings. I am super-happy with the team and the work that they do, also with Kawasaki, which is working well. Today we had some extra, because Pau Alsina helped me for sure. This victory is for him and all his family. I am also happy to do it here in my home race with all my fans, the family and my girlfriend, everyone, here. I am super grateful to win the race and get some points that are important for the championship. The season is half finished today, but in this category you never know what can happen.”
- Xavi Artigas
“It was a difficult weekend with hot conditions and not being fully fit after they took me out in Most. Anyway, we had a good rhythm all weekend and could get a P7 in Race 1 fighting in the group. A shame for Race 2 because I was feeling well after a positive warm-up and I was once again, for the third time this season, taken out by another rider. Now I have to recover from the leg pain. On Monday I’ll have some medical checks, and I hope I will be fully fit for Misano. We are strong, and we are just having a lot of bad luck, so hopefully this can change soon.”
- Loris Veneman
“I'm happy to have scored my first win. It's been a positive weekend so far. From the start, I had a good feeling on the bike, as well as an excellent pace. In the early laps, I tried to build a small advantage, but my opponent was particularly aggressive, especially on the straights. So I tried to manage the situation as best I could, devising the most effective strategy. I knew where I could make the difference on the track, and I tried to make the most of it. In the end, the plan worked, and I managed to win. It was a very close race in race Two. The start wasn't the best, and in the early laps I preferred to manage the situation and study my opponents. I felt I had the pace to stay with the leaders, and I knew that, when the opportunity arose, I could play my cards. Unfortunately, in some parts of the track, my opponents were able to exploit their greater speed and slipstream very effectively. In the decisive episode, I found myself with riders on both my right and left, and finding space wasn't easy. When I reopened the throttle, another rider moved towards me, and the resulting contact caused me to crash. It's very disappointing because we had the potential to fight until the end and bring home a strong result. We'll analyse what happened and get back to work to be even more prepared for the next race.”
- David Salvador
“I'm quite satisfied with this Saturday in Aragon and the work done today. We were missing something in the race, especially because the heat was really intense and the grip wasn't the best, making everything more complicated. Despite this, we managed to finish fourth and bring home important championship points. We'll continue working in the right direction. After Race 2, honestly, there's still a bit of disappointment. I spent the entire race battling and recovering, even managing to cross the finish line on the podium. Unfortunately, however, a penalty on the last lap cost me three seconds and deprived me of the victory. However, I'm still satisfied with the performance and the work done throughout the weekend. See you in Misano.”
- Antonio Torres
“It was a really good weekend. In Free Practice on Friday, the feelings were good, but it was difficult to finish a strong lap because of the higher temperatures in qualifying. In the first race I was struggling a little bit because of the red flag stop and restart. And it was very hot again. In the Sunday race everything was better, because I was understanding the performance more and finding more of an ideal set-up on the Kawasaki. I was fighting in the podium group, with good pace, and I am really looking forward to the next round in Misano.”
- Alvaro Fuertes
“It was a difficult weekend for us as we didn’t have the pace of the front groups, but we pushed with all we had. In Race 2, I felt more comfortable as we made some changes with the bike. It went quite well, so now we are thinking about Misano, trying to have the same feelings from Race 2 at Motorland when we get there.”
- Jose Osuna
