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Best Team Performance Of The Year In WorldSSP Race 1
Kawasaki WorldSSP Team riders Jeremy Alcoba and Dominique Aegerter secured the squad’s best combined results of 2026 in the penultimate race of the season at Jerez.
After Aegerter had qualified fourth and Alcoba fifth in Superpole on Friday, the signs were there that the first Jerez WorldSSP race, held on Saturday, October 17, would be full of opportunities for each Ninja ZX-6R 636 rider.
This proved to be the case, with Alcoba putting in a special performance to go from fifth on Lap 1 to the fastest rider over the final laps. He almost caught new World Champion Albert Arenas out front, after cutting the leading gap consistently towards the end of the 17-lap race.
Alcoba would cross the line just 0.533 seconds from Arenas, for second place and his sixth podium placing of the season, a total which includes three wins. His remarkable points-scoring performance on Saturday has put him in a strong position to finish third overall in the championship. He is now just one point behind current third-place rider, Can Öncü.
After a sometimes challenging season for Aegerter, his recent upswing in form reached new heights, as he took his Ninja ZX-6R 636 to fifth place, winning a three-rider fight for that last position inside the Top 5. This was one place better than his previous best 2026 result of sixth in Race 1 at Assen.
There will be one full 17-lap Jerez WorldSSP race to come on Sunday, October 18, before the championship ends and the final points tallies are added up.
The 24th WorldSSP race of the season will take place at 2 p.m. on Sunday, with Alcoba starting fifth on the grid and Aegerter seventh - thanks to the system whereby the best individual lap time of the fastest nine riders during Race 1 decides their grid positions for the second race.
“I am really happy because in the first part of the race I didn’t imagine I could take a podium. The Yamahas at the beginning were really strong, and at some points I was struggling. With new tires, they are fast. I could not attack them until the tires started to drop. I managed things, and the bike helped me a lot, so I did what I had done in some other races - not make any mistakes and bide my time. I tried to pass in the first seven or eight laps, but after that I could make my own race. I saw [Tom] Booth-Amos, and then he passed me. So I thought, ‘he’s fast’, so I rode behind him. We passed [Jorge] Navarro, and with five laps to go, I saw we were still on a good pace. We were not catching the leaders but riding at the same pace as them. Then I felt I was faster than Booth-Amos, so I said to myself that I am going to try. I saw an opportunity in the last few laps and passed [Can] Öncü faster than I expected. I saw the potential for victory was there, but I was happy anyway because I could fight. I am also unhappy, because I was close to a win.”
- Jeremy Alcoba
“I had my best result of the year after starting from P4. I finished P5. We had a very good pace throughout the race, especially in the middle when I caught up to some people. We need to improve a little bit in the first few laps to be more competitive in the end. Jeremy [Alcoba] did a good job again in finishing second, so congrats to him. We will see tomorrow, but the weather may be a little bit difficult; if it is dry, we will work out how to make me faster at the start. It is great to finish the season well, as we were not so happy during the season. But we keep believing and giving me more trust, and I hope I can bring the Kawasaki again a great result on Sunday to finish the ‘green job’ well.”
- Dominique Aegerter
