Jeremy Alcoba qualifies fifth in Superpole at Jerez

The twelfth and final WorldSSP round got underway today at the Jerez Circuit in Spain.

In hot and sunny conditions, Jeremy Alcoba headed out on track this morning for a free practice, in which he worked with his technical staff to find the best setup for his ZX-6R 636. The Spaniard placed eleventh with a time of 1’43”101.

FP2 ran in the afternoon, in higher temperatures with respect to the morning. Jeremy was nevertheless able to significantly improve on his time, stopping the clock at 1’42”421. This reference means that he qualifies in fifth place on the grid for the weekend’s first 17-lap race, which will take place tomorrow afternoon.

Circuit de Jerez – Angel Nieto – Spain
Supersport World Championship
Superpole: 1) Casadei (MV Agusta) – 2) Oncu (Yamaha) – 3) Masia (Ducati) – 4) Oettl (Ducati) – 5) Alcoba (Kawasaki) – 6) Cardelus (Ducati) – 7) Mahias (Yamaha)

“The final Superpole of the 2025 season went really well for us. Despite a few small mistakes, without which I might have been on the front row, I was able to finish fifth and will start from the second row. The positive thing is that I set my time alone and have good pace as well as great feeling with my bike. We’ll do all we can to fight for the win tomorrow.”

Garrett Gerloff gets his Jerez weekend underway

Garrett Gerloff had hot ambient and track temperatures to consider when he took part in the first day of practice at the final round of the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship.

The Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto is hosting the highly anticipated finale of the 2025 WorldSBK season, between 17-19 October. On the completion of the first day, Garrett ended up 16th overall, after the combined times of FP1 and FP2 were taken into consideration.

The rider from Texas rode as hard as he could in the unexpectedly high temperatures that are forecast to be a feature of the entire race weekend. He ended his opening day at the 4.423km long circuit 16th fastest overall, but only 1.150 seconds from the fastest rider.

Superpole Qualifying and then Race One, over 20 laps, are next up for Gerloff at Jerez. The final raceday of the year on Sunday will feature two races as usual – the ten-lap Superpole Race and the second 20-lap Race Two.

“Friday was a really difficult day. This morning, with the cooler track temperature and with a bit more grip, I felt not too bad. But this afternoon, when the track temperatures rose, I just had zero grip. I would imagine that might be the same for everybody else, but I had nothing more to give. I was fully on the limit, losing the front everywhere. I am frustrated, but we are trying to find a solution, and I hope we can find it for tomorrow.”

A brilliant podium for Alcoba and the Ninja ZX-6R 636

FIM Supersport World Championship rider Jeremy Alcoba scored his second podium just a few days after securing his first in Portugal last weekend. Jeremy went from fifth place on the Jerez grid to second at the flag, making this his single best race result of the season so far.

A strong showing in Superpole qualifying saw Jeremy fifth fastest on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636, as he extracted great pace under pressure from his machine and bike set-up at a track he knows very well from his previous racing experiences.

He grabbed the opportunities provided by the penultimate race of the WorldSSP season with both hands and worked his way past several rivals to lead on the last lap.

It took until the final corner before the home straight for Jeremy to be forced into giving up the lead he had created. New World Champion Stefano Manzi squeezed past Alcoba on the inside line and this caused Jeremy to run wide. On a less than ideal line, Jeremy exited the corner to take the flag just 0.051 seconds down on what would have been a first win for him and his Ninja ZX-6R 636.

Jeremy’s 20 points for second place in Race One promoted him not one but two places in the championship table, and he will sit seventh overnight. On Sunday, he will have a genuine chance to end the season sixth overall, or maybe even better if results go very strongly in his favour.

“I am super-happy because this kind of result is what I expected from yesterday. On Friday, I had a good pace, a good feeling, and set a fast lap in Superpole Qualifying. At the beginning of the first race, some riders had more grip than me, but I was pushing a lot, waiting for my moment. At half race distance, I tried to pass to be in the top five. In the last five laps, I tried to be third, and then I started pushing to be first. I am super-happy because we have scored two podiums in a row. That is good for me, good for Kawasaki, and I think we are doing a good job.”

Gerloff in the points after Race One

Garrett Gerloff replicated his 14th place on the grid in the first Jerez race to finish inside the points scoring positions.

The Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto hosted both the Superpole Qualifying session and Race One on Saturday 18 October, with Garrett ending up 15th in Superpole at the 4.423km long circuit in southern Spain.

Garrett finished up 14th on the grid, but he had qualified 15th in the timesheets. The withdrawal of one rider due to injury promoted every rider behind third place in Superpole one place up on the ‘real world’ grid, making Garrett the 14th place starter.

During the race he had raced between 13th and 15th positions, regaining one place on the final two laps to take his 14th place finish. In the current championship table he is 15th, just six points behind the rider ranked one place ahead.

Saturday offered up quite hot conditions, especially so considering the time of year, with Race One being held in 29°C ambient temperatures.

The WorldSBK season will come to a completion on Sunday 19 October, with the ten lap Superpole race followed at 14.00 local time by the second 20 lap full race of the weekend.

“First off, I want to say a big congratulations to Jeremy Alcoba for his second place in WorldSSP today. I thought he was going to win! It was awesome for the team and Kawasaki. I wish we were in the same position as him, fighting for podiums. We had a tough day. I said to the guys in the team, ‘hey it’s our last day tomorrow, last two races of the year, so let’s just change something big and see if it works.’ Tomorrow could be worse or better. So let’s see what happens and we will try our best.”

Gerloff rounds out the 2025 season at Jerez

Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) competed in the final two races of the 2025 season at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto on Sunday 19 October, eventually finishing his first Kawasaki year in WorldSBK in 15th place overall.

As always, two Sunday races awaited Gerloff and his peer group on a WorldSBK Sunday; the ten-lap Superpole ‘sprint’ and the 20-lap final Race Two.

He finished the sprint in 17th position, missing out on championship points. In Race Two, he was running in 14th place in the early laps. On lap 15, he had been fighting in 15th position until he was forced to retire with a technical issue.

Garrett ended his latest WorldSBK season in overall 15th position, with 88 championship points, and a single best race result of sixth place, in Race Two at Donington Park in July.

The Kawasaki WorldSBK Team will remain in Jerez for a single day of testing at the 4.423km long circuit, on Tuesday, 21 October – starting their real preparations for the next WorldSBK season at the earliest possible opportunity.

“It has been a long year, and we have definitely had some better moments. This weekend was not one of the better moments. It was a tough weekend and we ended up struggling more than I imagined. In Race Two, I had a technical problem, which was unfortunate, and not the way any of us wanted to end the year. We have some new things that we are going to do and I am excited to see if there is a payoff at the end. I think there will be. 2026 starts in a couple of days, with a test at Jerez on Tuesday.”

Off the track to P12 for Alcoba at the final WorldSSP round

Jeremy Alcoba took his podium-capable Ninja ZX-6R 636 to an eventual 12th place in the final WorldSSP race of the season, after running off track and having to come from 30th and last position, from the third lap to the 17th and final one.

From his fourth-place grid position, Alcoba got away inside the front group and was fifth for two laps. When he was entering T1, on lap three, he ran wide and went across the very deep gravel beds. By the time he had got back onto the track surface, he was behind every other rider.

Jeremy set about his recovery with relish and by half-race distance, he had made up ten places. He made even more progress to be 15th on lap 15 and then finally 12th, making his final passing move on the last lap to take four points.

Alcoba and his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636 have put in some truly remarkable performances over the two final rounds of the season, with this showing on Sunday at Jerez one of the best, despite not reaching the heights of his previous two podium rides.

The points that Jeremy got in the final race of the year were not quite enough to lift him one place higher in the final championship rankings. He thus ends his rookie WorldSSP season in eighth place overall, just two points short of seventh position.

“We finished a season that started with maybe some difficulties, but we improved a lot and finished super-well. I am very happy for the speed that we have shown in the most recent races. There was a little mistake in this last race of the season that made me go wide and into the gravel. I wanted to continue and show that I had the pace to fight for the victory, and the pace was super-good. Maybe not the result that we could expect or achieve today, but I think it was a good finish to the season.”