Somkiat Chantra, a Thai rider, collected data from the first race and aims to improve his performance in Race 2 of the 2026 World Superbike Championship Round 5 at the Czech Republic circuit.
The 2026 World Superbike Championship Round 5 held its first race on Saturday night, 16 May, at the Autodrom Most circuit in the Czech Republic. The race featured several notable events, especially a red flag on the first lap, which led to the race being shortened to 21 laps.
In this race, Somkiat Chantra, the top Thai rider racing with bike number 35 for the factory Honda HRC team, started from grid 21. He steadily accelerated, battling competitors, and eventually finished 17th near the end, 47.932 seconds behind the winner. His Japanese teammate, Yuki Kunii, riding bike number 92, crashed on the last lap and did not finish.
After the first race, Somkiat Chantra said, "We made slight progress from today's first race at Most. There was some improvement in the bike setup, but we also lost something in the process. So we have to keep working hard and try to use the data from today for the Superpole race and Race 2 tomorrow."
The Thai rider added, "My riding feeling has improved a bit compared to Balaton (Hungary) because I was able to compete more on track, but there are still many issues to fix to feel more confident with the bike. Let's see what we can do tomorrow."
The 2026 World Superbike Championship Round 5 will continue with the Superpole race on Sunday, 17 May at 16:10, followed by Race 2 at 20:30.