Weekend of mixed fortunes for Scott in the Czech Republic
MGM Bonovo Racing is making steady progress in this year’s FIM Superbike World Championship on Ducati. The fifth of 12 rounds of the 2025 season took the WorldSBK paddock to the challenging Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic this weekend, just across the German border. In cool and changeable conditions, Scott Redding and his crew were able to make further progress despite some obstacles.
Red flags, a crash for Redding, occasional puddles, and chilly conditions characterized free practice sessions in Most, which the British rider finished only in 16th place. In Superpole on Saturday morning, the airbag of his leather suit deployed, forcing the 32-year-old to return to the pits to deflate, costing him valuable minutes in his time attack. As a result, Redding was unable to improve his fastest lap in the final stages, forcing him to start all races from 17th place.
In the first race on Saturday afternoon, he was slowed down in the first chicane due to a crash by several competitors in front of him and had to rejoin the field at the very back. Lap by lap, however, Redding worked his way forward and finally crossed the finish line in 14th place, which earned him at least two more World Championship points.
In the short Superpole Race on Sunday, he also gained some positions, but only at the end did he set really fast lap times and finished again in 14th place. The MGM Bonovo Racing team rider had to start the second main race from 17th place again. After a good start, he initially gained four places but was then relegated to 15th place in the first eight laps. As in Superpole Race, Redding improved his pace again in the second half of the race, posting top five lap times and working his way up to twelfth place to score another four World Championship points.
The MGM Bonovo Racing team around Scott Redding plans to make further progress in less than four weeks, when World Superbike races at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli for the sixth round of the season.
READ MORE#45 Scott REDDING
Grid position 17 / Race 1: P14 / Grid position 17 / Superpole Race: P14 / Grid position 17 / Race 2: P17«Most is a place where I normally can pull something out of the bag but this year the competitiveness of the grid is so high, so it’s quite difficult to do one off good race even if you’re struggling a bit with the bike’s setting. But I feel like we made some good steps with the bike. It’s just difficult again because during a race week you can’t try big, crazy things. We were trying some bigger things but if it’s not so good sometimes you miss the session. The weather conditions have been a bit tricky but I feel like slowly we are getting the package in the bull pack and now in race two, I started to feel like I understand a bit more what the bike was going to do instead of trying to react to an act of the bike whereas now I kind of felt the bike is going to lose the front one time a bit but I knew how much I was going to lose, so I could relax a little bit more and try to work in different areas. It’s still not where we want to be but for me it was a small step and at this moment small steps are what it’s going to take. You can’t make a big step overnight, it’s not like five, ten years ago in racing; everybody is on the limit, everyone is fast. I was happy with that last race; I was coming strong at the end. The track is physically demanding, so I knew with my fitness and the hard work I put in, I was able to stay strong, and it was still very hard for me, so I knew the other guys would also struggle. We’ll see from here on what we can do.»
Scott takes points in the two main races at Cremona
In warm and sunny conditions, the World Superbike got underway this weekend for round four of the 2025 season. The MGM Bonovo Racing team arrived at the shortest circuit of the season in Italy after a strong start to the year following by two difficult race weekends in Portimao and Assen. However, a slight upward trend emerged in Cremona.
Scott Redding placed himself inside the top 15 in all three free practice sessions and made steady progress. In Saturday’s Superpole, he improved his fastest practice time by another 0.683 seconds, taking eleventh place.
In the first main race, the British rider even started from P10 due to a penalty of a competitor. From there, he initially lost two positions at the start but regained the first on lap five and moved up to 10th place on lap 14. He was able to hold on to this position all the way across the finish line, thus securing his fourth top 10 result in eight long races.
In the 10-lap Superpole Race on Sunday late morning, he was able to defend his 11th place from the start but ultimately had to start the second main race from twelfth, still on the fourth row.
A difficult start initially put the MGM Bonovo Racing team rider almost at the back of the field, finishing 18th on the first lap. Although he gained two places in the first half of the race, it wasn’t until the second part that Redding managed to improve his lap times. On lap 16, he set his personal fastest lap as he was under the 1:30 minute mark for the first time. In the final laps, the 32-year-old caught up with other competitors and moved up to 13th place by the chequered flag.
In less than two weeks, the Superbike World Championship entourage will arrive in the Czech Republic, where the fifth round of 2025 is set to take place from May 16-18 at the Autodrom Most.
READ MORE#45 Scott REDDING
Grid 10 / Race 1: P10 / Grid 11 / Superpole Race: P11 / Grid 12 / Race 2: P13«The weekend was probably one of the better ones we’ve had since Phillip Island. I feel that we were working a lot on the bike the last race weekends to find a base setup for me. We are still working on it. I do feel better with the bike but I’m still missing some front confidence at the moment but with the lack of testing it’s very difficult to test these things during a race weekend. Overall, I’m kind of happy with the progress we made. Obviously, the result is not where we want to be at the moment, but this was for me a good starting point since we came back to Europe for the races. I hope in Most we can make a step and then we go from there.»