In a few weeks, the big flag will come out again. From 25 to 27 September, WorldSBK will head to the Cremona Circuit for the EICMA Italian Round and, even if not every member of Quelli della Casanova Savelli will be able to make it this time, part of the group will be there. As usual, finding us should not be particularly difficult. Just look for the flag. And this time, there will be a very specific reason to wave it: Alberto Surra.
The #67 Motocorsa Racing rider is completing his first full WorldSBK season in 2026 aboard the team’s Ducati. He is young, still building his path in the category and, perhaps for that very reason, following him feels particularly interesting. Because we are not only watching where he finishes on Sunday. We are watching everything it takes to get there.
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Alberto Surra: a rookie learning quickly
Surra arrived in WorldSBK after a path that took him through Moto3, the European Moto2 Championship and appearances in both the Moto2 and WorldSSP World Championships.
In 2025, when he was called up for the final four WorldSSP rounds, he stood on the podium in his very first race at Magny-Cours and finished inside the top ten in almost every race that followed. That late-season run opened the door to Motocorsa Racing and WorldSBK for 2026. This season is, above all, one of growth. And yet the results have already started to arrive.
At Aragon, Surra finished fourth in the Superpole Race, his best WorldSBK result. At Magny-Cours, returning after the shoulder problem that had forced him to miss Donington, he did it again: P4 in the Superpole Race, matching that career-best finish.
After nine rounds, he sits ninth in the World Championship with 120 points. Important numbers. But they are not the only reason this story matters to us.
Before the track, there is everything else
When we see a rider line up on the grid, we are looking at the final result of a huge amount of work that usually happens outside the camera frame.
Training.
Physical preparation.
Hours spent on other motorcycles.
Days without podiums, television cameras or anyone applauding.
Surra continues to train away from the asphalt too. At Trofarello, motocross is part of that work, sometimes alongside friends and other riders. And perhaps those images tell a part of his career that is worth showing. Not because a rider needs to be turned into some perfect role model. But because, for someone younger, seeing what happens behind the scenes can be a very real source of inspiration.
Talent matters. Then come training, discipline, curiosity and the ability to start again. Above all, there is the work done when nobody is watching.
You do not need to have already arrived to have something worth telling. Sometimes, watching someone while they are still building themselves tells you even more.
You do not always need a grandstand to understand what a rider can mean to someone younger. Sometimes all it takes is a day of training. A motocross bike. A kid standing beside it. And someone looking at a rider and perhaps thinking that one day, they might want to try too. That does not mean everyone has to become a professional racer. That is not the point. The point is seeing that behind the result there is a process.
That the person on television on Sunday still trains on ordinary days. Falls. Learns. Recovers. Starts again. And that the distance between dreaming about something and beginning to work towards it is sometimes smaller than it looks.
A shoulder saying stop is part of the journey too
Alberto’s season has not simply been a line moving upwards. At Donington, a functional impairment to his right shoulder forced him to stop after FP3 and withdraw from the rest of the weekend. Before Magny-Cours, he needed another medical check before being cleared to race again.
Then came France. Back on the bike. Sixth in Sunday morning Warm Up. Fourth in the Superpole Race.
And perhaps that is another reason why following a young rider is interesting. Not only when everything works. Also when something forces them to stop, recover and begin moving again. Because careers are not built only by accelerating. Sometimes they are built by learning when to wait.
Cremona will feel a little like home for Alberto Surra and Quelli della Casanova-Savelli
The next round will be different. WorldSBK returns to Italy from 25 to 27 September for the EICMA Italian Round at Cremona Circuit. For Surra, it is a home round.
For us, it is another chance to experience a race weekend the way Quelli della Casanova Savelli likes to experience them: together. Not everybody will be there. But the group will. The Superbikes will be loud. Alberto will be on track. And, of course, there will be that flag that has become rather difficult to miss over the years.
If you are going to Cremona and you see Quelli della Casanova Savelli waving above the crowd, you will know where to find us. Come and say hello. We will be the ones watching the track, making noise and hoping to see the #67 come past as often as possible.
Supporting a story while it is still being written
It is easy to become attached to riders once they have already won everything. When everybody knows their name. When we already know how the story ends.
Maybe there is something even more special about following them earlier.
While they are learning and the first results arrive.
When something goes wrong and training begins again and they have to try one more time.
Alberto Surra is 21 and still has plenty to build ahead of him.
We do not know yet where that road will take him. That is part of the beauty of it.
At Cremona, we will be there to support him. Not because Sunday necessarily has to become perfect. But because sometimes it is worth being there while the road is still being built.
And if watching a young rider work towards that road makes an even younger person think, just for a second, “maybe I could try too”, then perhaps supporting someone from the grandstand has done something more than simply fill it with noise.
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Read: From Mugello to Monza, winning at home sounds different: Bez and Kimi, two Italian Sundays
Guarda: ALBERTO SURRA – Dalla VR46 al mondiale Superbike | RCRS Ep.28
