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Carter Thompson (MTM Kawasaki) claimed his first FIM Supersport 300 World Championship victory in Race 1 at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” after fighting from tenth on the grid. He waited until Sector 3 before taking the lead on the final lap and had enough of a margin over his rivals to hold on across the line despite them benefitting from his slipstream through Turns 12 and 13, with the Australian holding on for victory by half-a-second.

Thompson made his WorldSSP300 debut mid-way through the 2024 season and the Australian had done enough to secure a seat on this year’s grid with perennial winners MTM Kawasaki. The start of the 2025 campaign had been tough for Thompson, often finishing between fourth and seventh, although he was 11^th in Race 1 at Most. However, things seemed to change for the #50 in Italy as he claimed a first WorldSSP300 win from tenth on the grid.

The 17-year-old was only tenth in Friday afternoon’s Tissot Superpole session, setting a 1’50.099s to start from the head of the fourth row. It didn’t take long for Thompson to move to the front of the field, finishing the first lap in fourth and the second in third. There was a big group fighting for victory and that meant Thompson occasionally dropped ground to the leader, such as on Lap 3: he finished that lap down in ninth.

He used the second half of the race to great effect as he battled back into the top five, but it was the last lap that proved crucial. He started Lap 12 of 12 in sixth place and was there as late as Turn 8 on the final lap. At Turns 9 and 10, he slotted into second and this move was vital as he gained the slipstream of David Salvador (Team ProDina XCI). He swept around the outside of the Spaniard through Curvone and was immediately able to pull out a gap over his rivals. The slipstream helped his opposition close up, but Thompson carried incredible speed through Turns 14, 15 and 16 to stay ahead and claim his first win in the Championship.

Discussing his victory on Saturday, Thompson said: “It’s incredible to get the first win of the season, and the first podium as well. It’s been difficult to start the season, but the team have made great steps throughout the whole year and definitely helped me a lot. We’ve made a bit of a breakthrough this weekend, a lot more feeling with the bike so it’s a great feeling to win. I felt like I had good pace all day. I had a great Warm Up. I felt quite fast. I had a bit of extra speed in me in the race. I felt I was just sitting in the group and managing the race because it would’ve been quite hard to separate it. I just pushed as hard as I could, hoped to make a little gap and it worked in the end.”

Thompson's win made a small bit of WorldSSP300 history. He became the first Australian rider to taste victory in the class, with Australia the 11^th different nationality to be represented on the top step of the rostrum. It was also Kawasaki’s 68^th win in World Supersport 300, while Thompson became the eighth youngest rider to win a race.

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