PREVIEW: WorldSSP300 rides into Misano as the season reaches its halfway point, headed by three riders within four points of P1
Tight finishes have been a hallmark of this campaign’s timesheets all season, leaving everything to play for, but who will come out on top in Emilia-Romagna?
With race action at Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” just days away, the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship’s host of talented riders are eager to take to the track at Misano and stamp their name into the history books of WorldSSP300’s dramatic final season. Last time out welcomed Julio Garcia (Prodina Kawasaki Italka Racing) to the top of the podium for the first time in 2025, followed by two-time WorldSSP300 Champion Jeffrey Buis (Freudenberg KTM-Paligo Racing) and fellow rookie Benat Fernandez (Team #109 Retro Traffic Kove) who earned a double podium on the weekend at Most.
THREE-HORSE RACE: Garcia and Fernandez hot on Buis’s tail in Riders’ Championship
Despite leading the Championship with four race wins, compared to several riders with just one, Buis only leads Julio Garcia by three points, While Garcia only has one win, that win came in Race 1 at Most, a contest in which he closed down Buis’s lead after the Dutchman finished P23 due to a Turn 1 crash which saw him crash out from P2 on the 11th of 12 laps. A single point behind Garcia, fellow Spaniard and rookie Benat Fernandez sits well within striking distance of Buis as well. He so far has earned three podiums on the season, one fewer than Garcia or Buis, but his P2 and P3 at Most - each less than 0.05s from P1- have seen him in the thick of the fight at the front all season.
SALVADOR OUT FOR REVENGE: Snubbed by just a hundredth of a second, Salvador hunts for his first race win of the season
Madrid native David Salvador (Team ProDina XCI) nearly earned his second WorldSSP300 race win in his second season in the category, pipped by just 0.012s by his teammate Garcia. If he can claim his first 2025 race win of the season at Misano, it would do him a lot of good in the Riders’ Championship picture, as he currently sits 19 points behind Fernandez, 27 points from Buis in P1, and 8 points ahead of Humberto Maier (Yamaha AD78 FIMLA by MS Racing). Maier had a banging weekend at Most, earning his first pole of 2025 and making it back-to-back rounds earning a podium. Misano will be an opportunity for the Brazilian to make it a third consecutive podium and get himself closer to the front of the Championship panorama.
TOOTH AND NAIL: Torres and Thompson separated by a single point at P6 and P7 in the Riders’ Championship
Antonio Torres (Team ProDina XCI) had a solid performance at Most, taking home P6 and P7 after gaining positions in each race. He holds a tenuous lead over Carter Thompson (MTM Kawasaki) of just one point, Torres currently with 58 to Thompson’s 57. The Australian didn’t have as pleasant an experience last time out at Most, still earning solid finishes; however, he dropped positions in each race compared to his starting position, which cost him especially in his Race 1 P11 finish. Matteo Vannucci (PATA AG Motorsport Italia WorldSSP300) achieved his best results of the season so far, with a P5 finish in Race 1, topping a line of serviceable performances by the Yamaha R3 rider. In the effort, he climbed up from P12, a charge he would do well to replicate at Misano Where he won a race in 2022. Marco Gaggi (Team BrCorse) enjoyed a strong Tissot Superpole session at Most, landing P5 and only 0.004s from Daniel Mogeda (Pons Motosport Italika Racing), who earned P4 ahead of him. From there, Gaggi landed a pair of P8s on the weekend. The Italian will look to lock in and find more pace at his home round on the weekend, for results from which he could launch an assault on the Championship standings. Pepe Osuna (ZAPPAS-DEZA-BOX 77 Racing Team) rounds out the current Riders’ Championship top ten, his pair of P9s at Most earned him solid points, but he will hope for better results at Misano, where last year he earned a P5, a result which, were he able to replicate in 2025, would be his best result of the season so far.
REPLACEMENTS AND WILDCARDS: Zannini filling in for Hidalgo, Pablo Olivares consequentially filling in for him
Kawasaki GP Project’s normal pair of Emiliano Ercolani and Giacomo Zannini will both be absent from atop their regular Kawasaki GP bikes. Ercolani suffered a fracture in his right ankle last round, ruling him out of competition, and Zannini will be filling in for the injured Uriel Hidalgo (ZAPPAS-DEZA-BOX 77 Racing Team) on his bike after Hidalgo’s fractured femur last time out. In turn, replacing the Kawasaki GP riders will be former JuniorGP 2021 runner-up Pablo Olivares, and Ivan Muñoz who competed in 2022 in the same Deza-Box 77 Racing Team as Pepe Osuna and Antonio Torres. As for Misano’s wildcards, joining the grid will be Thai rider Krittapat Keankum (ARCO MotoR University Team) on a Yamaha R3, and Daniel Ocete (Pons Motosport Italika Racing) on a Kawasaki Ninja 400
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