The FIM Sportbike World Championship reached an absolute thriller of a conclusion in 2026 at the Circuito de Jerez - Angel Nieto, Andalucia, where Xavi Artigas (MTM Kawasaki) clinched the crown despite a nerve-wracking run to eighth place. The #34 got the job done with 245 points in the final standings, fending off the title charge of David Salvador (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI), who finished the season second with 237 points. Up front, it was Carter Thompson (Team BrCorse) who stole the show, taking his second win of the season and his second in as many rounds with a commanding performance.
Now, the race itself was pure madness from the lights. Both title contenders started right near each other on the grid, with Artigas in seventh and Salvador in eighth. They wasted zero time getting stuck in, as Salvador surged into fifth on the opening lap while Artigas slotted into sixth. By lap two, Salvador had wrestled his way to the front to try and break the pack, but Artigas fought back fiercely, grabbing second at Turn 6. The tension boiled over by lap four when Salvador slipped to third behind Artigas and Thompson, and the two championship rivals nearly came to blows at Turn 6. As they squabbled over position, Thompson checked out and left the rest of them to tear each other apart.
Chaos continued to unfold as the laps ticked down. Salvador lunged past Artigas with an aggressive move at Turn 2 on lap six, with Antonio Torres (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI) running second and pulling clear of the chaos. Artigas slipped down to sixth by lap eight, only to claw his way back onto the podium places a lap later as Salvador dropped to fifth at Turn 6. Then came the heart-stopping moment: both rivals went blazing wide at Turn 13 while Artigas tried a move at Lorenzo Corner, dropping all the way back to P8 and P9. Salvador managed to salvage fourth by the checkered flag, but eighth was all Artigas needed to secure the championship.
Back at the front of the field, Thompson drove a brilliant race to finish 4.565s ahead of Torres in second. That result sealed third place in the world standings for the Australian, breaking a tie on points with the Spaniard coming into the weekend. Meanwhile, Pepe Osuna (Deza-Box 77 Racing Team) put together a stunning drive to claim his first WorldSPB rostrum in third place, leading the massive chasing group across the line.
Behind Salvador in fourth, Alvaro Fuertes (Deza-Box 77 Racing Team) backed up his Race 1 podium with a fifth-place finish, missing out on another rostrum by just two tenths of a second. Marco Gaggi (Team BrCorse) wrapped up his campaign in sixth, followed by Juan Risueno (Pons Motosport Italika Racing), Artigas, Elia Bartolini (CM Triumph Factory Racing), and Taiyo Aksu (PATA AG Motorsport Italia), with the #89 putting a bow on his season with his best weekend yet.
Unfortunately, the race also took heavy casualties on the opening lap alone. Indi Schunselaar (VLR Racing Team Suzuki) and Troy Sovicka (Panattoni BGR Smrz Racing) collided at Turn 9, while the Triumph duo of Fenton Seabright (PHR Performance Triumph) and Bruno Ieraci (CM Triumph Factory Racing) wiped each other out at Turn 13. Later in the race, Mirko Gennai (Panattoni BGR Smrz Racing) crashed at Turn 12 on lap six and brought his bike into the pits to retire, Ferre Fleerackers (Track & Trades Wixx Racing) went down at Turn 2 on lap seven, and Gonzalo Sanchez (ARCO Yamaha MotoR University Team) bowed out late in the final race of the year.
