The 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is now packing suitcases – or carry-on bags – ready for a hard-earnt, well-deserved summer holiday, and despite a glittering display in the opening eight rounds of the year, Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) was rather downbeat on Sunday. After an opening lap mistake, the #47 fought back valiantly in one of his best rides to finish fourth and miss out on a heroic podium by less than a tenth of a second.

RACE 2: drama from the start, then a mega fight back

In what promised so much with a mega start from the second row, the charismatic Italian blasted his way to the front at Turn 17 on the opening lap, passing Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), only for the Championship leader to retaliate at Turn 18. However, a big mistake would cost Bassani any chance of a maiden win, when he ran deep into Turn 1 at the start of Lap 2 and had to bail out across the gravel.

However, all was not entirely lost for the top Independent rider in the Championship, as he bounced back from as far down as 11^th to storm back up to P4. On Lap 7, Bassani was up into P7 where he stayed until he caught and got ahead of Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) on Lap 16. Then, a big push in the final six laps, moving up one place courtesy of Toprak Razgatlioglu’s (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) crash from the lead, before catching arch-rival and factory Ducati rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), the two not igniting their rivalry as Bassani broke clear. He caught up to the podium fight between Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) on the last lap as the two battled and lost time, with him nearly beating both on the run to the line, with just 0.134s between them.

“WE HAD THE POSSIBILITY TO FIGHT FOR VICTORY” – opportunity missed for Axel

“We did a really good Superpole Race but in Race 2, I made a big mistake at Turn 1 and I’m really sorry to the team,” began an apologetic Bassani. “Today, we had the possibility to fight for victory. Our pace was really good; I’m not happy with myself because I made a really s**t mistake and I don’t know why. I got near to second position after a really good recovery, so I am happy for that but for the next races, I need to understand what way I can do the opening laps of the race. Today, on the first lap, I tried to overtake Alvaro a lot of times, which isn’t good because I need to stay more relaxed and push at the end of the race.”

It’s been a good run of form of late for Bassani, who continues to chase the dream of a maiden win: “We’ve had three rounds where we were fast, also at Donington Park, we were fast but there, I did a s**t Superpole. Here, I did a good one but the lap got cancelled. We’re really consistent and really near to first, so we need to continue in this way, continue to push and get the victory before the end of the year.”

“I WANT THE VICTORY; I NEED THE VICTORY!” – high aims not that far away

It was nearly a renewal of battle between himself and Jonathan Rea too, with both having fought on various occasions, although this time, ‘Old Fox’ Rea wasn’t ready to be hunted down this time: “Jonny has many years in this World Championship and it’s not easy to beat him. He’s an old fox! I’ll try to beat him again before the end of the season; we’ve beaten him at Imola, so it’s possible. We’ll try to repeat that result. But now, I want the victory; I need to win.”

Talking about 2024, Bassani still hasn’t got a clear direction: “My manager has a lot of work to do in this break. For me, I need to stay alone with myself and start to understand how I can do the first part of the race better and try and win the last races of the year.” Adding more in his debrief with the international media on Sunday evening, Bassani said: “The money is not important; it’s important to be the best rider. Alberto Vergani, my manager, starts to think about it.”

BIG PICTURE: positives from Most in the race for a top four in the Championship

In the Championship standings, Bassani is fifth and just 20 points away from fourth-placed Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK), who he outscored by nine points this weekend. However, Bassani lost ground to third place overall and Jonathan Rea, who leapfrogged Locatelli after a win, a second and a third at Most. The gap is 44. Behind, the #47 is 52 points clear of ‘Petrux’ and 60 ahead of Rinaldi.

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