a second row start by just a few 100ths of a second. Seventh on the grid was a decent result regardless. Montella, whilst absolutely deserving his position in the standings, has not had the most consistent of seasons and has been fortunate that his closest rivals have failed to capitalise on his mistakes. Race One was another of his not so well-judged outings. A failed attempt to pass GoEleven’ s Lorenzo Baldassarri very nearly landed him on the ground and, whilst recovering from that error, another mistake whilst chasing Bimota’ s Axel Bassani meant that eighth was his best. Neither of the Lowes brothers, however, were able to take full advantage of Montella’ s misfortune. Sam Lowes’ relatively poor result left him mired in the midfield, dropping to 11th at the finish, whilst Alex Lowes couldn’ t make his front row position stick, dropping back to fifth.
RACE ONE Alberto Surra is on a high right now and it shows in his riding. Having curbed his earlyseason wildness, not only is he less likely to have to apologise to other riders, there’ s also been real improvement in his tyre management, leaving more grip later into the race distance. That maturity earned him his second full length race podium in Race One although he was barely within shouting distance of Lecuona who was six seconds ahead, his fastest lap nearly half a second faster than Surra’ s. Motocorsa has secured Surra for 2027 and it would have been a major surprise had they not done so, he’ s giving them the sort of results that have shown he’ s ready to take the fight to the best of the independents. Fourth home in Race One was Oliveira and it’ s great to see the BMW back in the fray after a long and horrible season. In comparison,
KIWI RIDER 95