Valentin Debise (ZX Moto): “Arenas clearly stands out from everyone else”

Very few people had expected such a strong Supersport debut from ZX Moto. Star rider Valentin Debise has won six of the 16 races so far and finished 13 in the top 10. Sitting second in the championship after two-thirds of the season, the Frenchman was long considered one of the title contenders.

However, the 34-year-old, who found a familiar environment at the top-tier Evan Bros Racing team, had no doubts about his success. “I told myself right from the start: ‘Next year I could become world champion’,” recalls Debise in an interview with Paddock-GP. “That’s why I had that goal in mind from the very beginning this year, even though the start was a bit bumpy. Still, you have to keep your feet on the ground. The aim is to get the best out of every race without doing anything silly – and, above all, to secure a fifth or sixth place, as in Assen, if that’s all that’s possible. So we need to deliver consistently good performances right through to the end of the year.”

However, things went even better – and above all more consistently – for Albert Arenas, who moved from Moto2 to the new Yamaha team AS Racing. Although the Spaniard won only three races, he finished on the podium in 10 others and leads the standings with 291 points, well ahead of Debise on 209 points.

“Arenas stands out clearly from the rest; he’s very strong,” said the ZX Moto rider, praising the World Championship leader. “Then there are the others: Öncü is very strong, and Masia – as long as his bike is 10 km/h faster than the others’, he’ll be right up there at the front. And then there are so many talented outsiders this year, such as Booth-Amos, Mahias, Garcia … The list goes on. The field is very tightly packed this year and the pace is incredibly high, so there could be plenty of surprises.”