Kawasaki celebration: Xavi Artigas wins and narrows the gap in Sportbike

Xavi Artigas (MTM Kawasaki) is getting a taste for it: in Race 1 at Cremona he clinches his second consecutive win in the Sportbike World Championship.

A Saturday under the banner of a Japanese 4-cylinder at the Cremona Circuit. Just moments before Jeremy Alcoba’s victory in Race 1 of the Supersport World Championship, the San Martino del Lago track also saw Xavi Artigas triumph in the first Sportbike World Championship race. The common denominator was the availability of a Kawasaki ZX-6R 636, a bike that this year is allowed to compete in both WorldSBK support categories.

After relaunching himself last year by fighting to the very end for the CIV Supersport title, Xavi Artigas is in a true state of grace in Sportbike. Back on the top step of the podium in Race 2 at Magny-Cours, the Spanish rider has now notched his second consecutive win, his third of the season aboard the MTM Kawasaki ZX-6R 636. Fourth in qualifying, but starting from the front row due to a six-place grid penalty handed to championship leader David Salvador (who stormed back to 3rd with the Prodina Kawasaki XCI Team), the 2021 Moto3 Valencian Grand Prix winner immediately found himself in the thick of the action. He launched the decisive attack on a rampant Harrison Dessoy (2nd with PHR Performance Triumph) with 4 laps to go and, from then on, expertly shut every door.

Thanks to these results, Xavi Artigas trims a few points off his championship deficit, now chasing David Salvador by 21 points, while Kawasaki, with one round to spare, celebrates the Sportbike World Championship manufacturers’ title. Tomorrow in Race 2, which kicks off at 13:00, the usual brawl is expected, with potential interlopers Fenton Seabright (4th), Carter Thompson (5th) and Alvaro Fuertes, sixth and part of the leading group, with five riders covered by 0.505 under the checkered flag. Antonio Torres failed to make an impact, only eleventh with the second Prodina XCI Kawasaki 636 and now almost out of the title fight. Marco Gaggi (8th) was the best of the Italians in an anonymous Race 1 for our standard-bearers. In the points, Bruno Ieraci finished twelfth, with Matteo Vannucci, Elia Bartolini and Mirko Gennai nose-to-tail in that order from thirteenth to fifteenth. No points for wild card Manuel Rocca (17th), Thomas Benetti (22nd), Mattia Sorrenti (23rd), Alessandro Di Persio (29th) and Mattia Martella (31st, called up at the last minute by Miguel Oliveira’s outfit).