Despite the intense battles at the front of each 12-lap race it was Veneman who had all the right cards laid out at the right time, and he was peerlessly rewarded with points as a result. He does not lead the championship, but he is now just 23 points from it.

Veneman, the son of famous ex-rider Barry, is still only 17 years of age, but rode with a maturity and clarity of thought usually only possessed by riders many years his senior. To say he was the rider of the weekend at Most would be a gross understatement.

In Superpole qualifying, now held on Fridays under the revised 2024 weekend schedule, Veneman secured pole position, from replacement rider for the injured Petr Svoboda, Carter Thompson (Füsport - RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki). Local hero Svoboda was unable to ride at his home round because of the broken lower leg he suffered in the previous round at Misano, but he was still on-site to offer support for both his regular team-mate Inigo Iglesias Bravo (Füsport - RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki) and his whole team.

Six of the top seven grid places for Race One went to Kawasaki riders. The top seven were covered by just over half a second after Superpole qualifying.

In warm and slightly humid conditions on Saturday 20 July, a great start to Race One from substitute rider Thompson saw him lead the early stages. He was soon joined by Veneman and then Iglesias Bravo as the top riders started to build a cushion back to the rest of the 33-strong field.

A six rider leading group, with an advantage of several seconds on the rest of the field, featured four Kawasaki riders. Mirko Gennai (MTM Kawasaki) was the other Ninja 400 competitor well in with a chance of the podium places at half race distance.

A superb race entertained the enthusiastic fans from lap one to lap 12, with many passes and changes of lead but few questionable manoeuvres shared between a determined sextet of leading riders.

In the final reshuffle of the pack in the last few corners the race winner proved to be Veneman, 0.075 seconds ahead of Marc Garcia (Kove).

Australian rider Thompson, who is just 16 years of age, had dropped back from the front group just before the end, looking like he would finish a lone sixth. He quickly reasserted himself in the final lap to finish up a more than creditable third in his first WorldSSP300 race.

He also set the fastest lap of the race - even while passing three other riders on his final lap - which promoted him from second on the grid in Race One to pole position for Race Two. This is another initiative for 2024, in which the fastest individual lap each rider sets in Race One determines their starting position in Race Two.

Carter’s best Race One pace of 1’45.666 was a new lap record and it would survive even the hot pace set in the second 12-lap race of the Czech weekend.

Fourth place in a glorious Race One went to Gennai and fifth to Inigo Iglesias Bravo (Füsport - RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki).

Behind the leading six, the next best Kawasaki rider was Jose Manuel Osuna Saez (Deza - Box77 Racing Kawasaki) in seventh place, with Bruno Ieraci (Team ProDina Kawasaki) 11th.

Only three riders failed to finish the opening WorldSSP300 race at Most. It would be a very different story in terms of rider DNFs in Race Two on Sunday.

With track temperatures of almost 50°c and ambient temperatures of 30°C it was a very tough Race Two for the massed ranks of WorldSSP riders. As if to prove it, there were 11 non-finishers in the second race - exactly a third of the field.

On lap eight of 12 a four rider pile-up at the first turn almost included Veneman but it did take out race one sensation Thompson and perennial force in this class, Gennai. Neither fallen Kawasaki rider was at fault but were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time inside a closely packed leading group.

Iglesias Bravo suddenly found himself clear of the pack after this incident but Veneman was in determined mood and closed down the gap, which led to a dramatic grandstand finish between the Kawasaki riders.

On the final lap, on the exit of the final right hand corner, Iglesias Bravo was ahead, with Veneman his inseparable shadow. As Veneman used the slipstream to try to pass his rival on the inside Iglesias Bravo moved across the to the pitwall and Veneman ran out of track. The leading pairing touched and then crossed the line almost completely together.

The winning result was originally given to the Spanish rider - by an impossibly small one-thousandth of a second - and the podium places were even confirmed for a short time.

A sudden official communication came through, however, and Iglesias Bravo had been penalised for irresponsible riding by pushing his rival towards the pit wall on the final lap. The official race result gave Veneman the victory by just 0.009 seconds. Iglesias claimed he did not see his rival as he tried to pass him from behind, but despite this he was still awarded second and Veneman the win.

The next best rider, Aldi Mahendra (Yamaha) was a relatively huge 2.479 seconds down at the head of a loose 11-rider chasing pack.

After the earlier exit of Gennai and Thompson, Ieraci was the next best Race Two Kawasaki rider in fourth place and Jose Manuel Osuna Saez (Deza-Box 77 Racing Kawasaki) was ninth. Ieraci, two times a WorldSSP300 race winner, had started Race Two from 24th place on the second race grid.
 
In the championship points standings, Iglesias Bravo has 129, Race Two third place rider Aldi Mahendra has 110, Veneman 106 and the still injured Daniel Mogeda is fourth overall, on 63 points.   

In the Manufacturers’ Standings Kawasaki leads Yamaha by 49 points, 179 to 130.

Füsport - RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki heads up the Teams’ Championship by 30 points, with MTM Kawasaki in overall third place.

Of the eight individual races run in the championship so far - at Barcelona, Assen, Misano and now Most - six have been won by Ninja 400 riders. 

The next round of the WorldSSP300 championship takes place at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve (Portimao) between 9-11 August.

Rider Comments

Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki), stated: “I got my first pole position ever then directly turned it into a victory and then a double victory. I am really happy because I didn’t expect to win the first race in the end. Most of the time the guy who is first out of the last corner gets overtaken, so I expected somebody to pass me. It was very close but luckily I got the victory. In Race Two there were people who crashed into each other in T1. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, so I just picked the bike up and everybody came past me. I had to close two seconds on Inigo and I closed it pretty well. In the end on the last straight I think he touched my clutch and therefore he got the penalty.”

Inigo Iglesias Bravo (Füsport - RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki), stated: “First of all I would like to thank my regular team-mate Petr Svoboda. He is injured and was not able to race at his home round but he helped me. It is a little bit of a shame to lose the Race Two win because I had a good weekend and I am a little bit sad to be second. I try to be polite in all the practices and races. I did not do anything to Veneman to lose him time. I was doing my line, closing my line, and he came from the back. I did not see anything. But, I accept the penalty. Anyway, we will continue in the fight. We are working clearly together and I think we can continue in this way.”

Carter Thompson (Füsport - RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki), stated: “An unbelievable race. I didn’t think I could do it on the last lap, after I dropped behind, but I pushed like crazy and I made it happen. A great debut race in this class. The team has been working well and it has been very helpful working with Inigo as well, trying to learn the track and the bike. I did not expect to be so quick here so I am surprised and happy with how I am going so far.”

Mirko Gennai (MTM Kawasaki), stated: “An unlucky weekend. In Race One for sure there was a battle for the podium every lap and one mistake from another rider meant I lost the podium in the last two turns. In Race Two the pace was good and I was in the front group all the time. I tried to escape I sometimes I could make a little gap, but WorldSSP300 it is difficult to escape.  I tried but Iglesias Bravo and Veneman were very fast here and took the gap, but one mistake from another rider put me out of the race at T1.”

Bruno Ieraci (Team ProDina Kawasaki), stated: “Today was certainly a beautiful race, in which I managed to make a great comeback. From twenty-fourth place we reached fourth place. Even though I was third until a few meters from the finish line, they unfortunately overtook us in the final sprint. This result was important and is a good sign for the next races. I thank the team so much for the great work done on the bike. This weekend we managed to bring home more points for the championship. A heartfelt thank you to the team, the sponsors and everyone who supports me from home.”

                  #NinjaSpirit