Jeremy Alcoba is simply unstoppable right now. The Kawasaki WorldSSP Team rider put on a masterclass in Italy to take his second-ever WorldSSP win in sequential fashion, denying Albert Arenas the title for at least another round. Arenas crossed the line in P2 for the AS BLU CRU Racing Team, marking his 16th podium of the campaign and keeping him at the head of the standings with 351 points. Valentin Debise finished P5 for the EASTROC ZXMOTO Factory Evan Bros Racing squad, meaning the championship leader will now have to wait until Race 1 at Estoril to clinch the crown, where a podium finish will do the job. Behind them, Tom Booth-Amos bounced back onto the bottom step of the rostrum in P3 for PTR Triumph Factory Racing, securing his sixth podium of the year and his first top-three appearance since his home double at Donington Park.
The race itself was a frantic affair. Debise grabbed the holeshot from P3 on the grid, but his lead vanished immediately when Arenas swept around the outside at Turn 2. The championship leader put his head down, laying down blistering sub-1’31s laps to carve out a 1.1s tenth gap over the opening five laps. Booth-Amos fought his way back to P2 on Lap 2 to chase the Spaniard, but the pace proved too hot, and he eventually surrendered the silver-medal spot to Alcoba on Lap 15. Alcoba then hunted down Arenas, making the decisive, beautiful move at Turn 11 on the penultimate lap to secure his dream Cremona weekend. Booth-Amos held firm for P3, a welcome reward after a brutal outing in France.
Further down the order, Filippo Farioli delivered the best round of his two seasons so far. Riding for VFT Racing, the Italian brought his machine home in P4 to cap off a brilliant home weekend, marking his fifth top-ten finish in both races and his second in a row. Debise, meanwhile, faded after his fast start, sliding down a position per lap over the opening four tours to end up fifth. Jaume Masia led the chasing group home in P6 for Orelac Racing VerdNatura, improving on his Race 1 result.
Philipp Oettl crossed the line just under two seconds behind the #5 to take P7 for the Feel Racing WorldSSP Team, fending off Federico Caricasulo. The Italian recovered to eighth after a disastrous weekend-opening crash on Friday left him down in P26, a much-needed recovery following his P5 and P8 results in France. Matteo Ferrari closed out his home round in P9 for WRP Racing, just ahead of Lucas Mahias in P10 for GMT94 Yamaha.
Unfortunately, not everyone saw the checkered flag. Raffaele De Rosa endured a nightmare day for QJMOTOR Factory Racing; after suffering a red-flag-inducing tech issue when his bike dropped oil onto the start/finish straight in the morning warm-up, he suffered the exact same fate when a technical failure ended his race early at Turn 1. Aldi Mahendra crashed out early while running in P13 for the AS BLU CRU Racing Team. Andrea Giombini hit the tarmac at Turn 3 on Lap 12 for Motozoo by Madforce Dubai, while Mattia Casadei crashed out of the top ten on Turn 7 with just two laps remaining, breaking hearts at his home round for the D34G WorldSSP Racing Team.
When the dust settled, the top six positions in Race 2 belonged to Alcoba, Arenas (+0.493s), Booth-Amos (+1.700s), Filippo Farioli (VFT Racing Yamaha) (+2.420s), Valentin Debise (EASTROC ZXMOTO Evan Bros Factory) (+6.502s), and Jaume Masia (+10.678s). Booth-Amos also snatched the fastest lap with a 1’31.587s, setting a brand-new lap record on his Triumph. In the championship standings, Arenas leads on 351 points, followed by Debise on 265, Masia on 229, Can Oncu on 221 for Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing, Booth-Amos on 192, and Alcoba rising to 188. The action picks right back up when the paddock heads to Estoril.
