Most: Can Oncu on pole—but what about the race? The Supersport class has taken off

Can Oncu will launch from pole in the first Supersport showdown at Most, in the Czech Republic. For the Turkish rider it’s the sixth time in his career, the second this year after Portimao. Yamaha’s spearhead still lacks his first win of ’26: will this be the one?

Lining up alongside the pole-sitter will be the Frenchman Lucas Mahias: two Yamaha YZF-R9s ahead of everyone. The third-fastest time on track bears the signature of Valentin Debise with the Chinese ZXMoto, but there’s a catch.

Debise will have to start from the second row due to a three-place grid penalty for impeding Jaume Masia, at least according to Race Direction. The Frenchman, however, claimed he had slowed on the racing line due to a technical issue. Minor spats—the real reckoning will be in the race. Besides the ZXMoto, which continues to churn out top-tier results, Can Oncu will also have to contend with Albert Arenas, the blistering rookie leader of the junior World Championship after stepping down from Moto2. The Spaniard, having raced for years in the MotoGP paddock, had no idea about Most’s characteristics, so he spent the first session figuring out which way the track went (17th time). Then in the second session he returned to his usual, extremely high level. Debise’s demotion automatically bumps him into a front row that will be all Yamaha.

The former Moto3 world champion comes from a Hungarian round marred by a qualifying crash and a subsequent incident in Race 1, which cost him ground to Arenas in the World Championship standings. In this qualifying session Jaume Masia stalled in 12th position (fourth row), so he faces yet another all-or-nothing charge with the uncertainty of Turn 1, which risks becoming a guillotine at the start.

With a 1'33"802, Can Oncu slashed the qualifying record that had stood since 2024, set by Yari Montella at 1'34"126. On this occasion none of the Panigale V2s shone; with Masia struggling, the best was Simon Jespersen’s in 9th. The unluckiest in this qualifying was Mattia Casadei, who crashed on the first lap: he set no time and will have to start from the last spot.