Nicolo Bulega kept his faint hopes of winning the 2025 Superbike World Championship title alive after a controlled victory in Race 1 at the Pirelli Spanish Round well clear of Toprak Razgatlioglu.
Facing the possibility of losing the championship to Razgatlioglu on Saturday in Jerez if the BMW rider won the race, Bulega had set a blisteringly quick lap record during qualifying to snatch pole position. It had looked clear since the first practice sessions on Friday that Bulega had the edge and he did what he had to do to prolong the title fight for another day.
For the first time since 2014, the WorldSBK Championship will be settled on the final day of the season thanks to Bulega’s efforts today. The Ducati rider raced clear of the chasing pack and by the time Razgatlioglu had recovered from his underwhelming start he was clear enough to manage the gap behind.
Sam Lowes should have been starting on the front row but was sadly declared unfit as the chest injuries he had hoped to recover from by now flared up again. This promoted his brother Alex to the front row.
The two championship contenders very nearly came together about halfway around the 1st lap, with Razgatlioglu being pushed out slightly wide by Bulega at turn 5. The Turk ran even wider at the end of the following straight to let Andrea Iannone slip by into 2nd place.
By lap 3 Razgatlioglu moved back in front but Bulega was already 3 seconds clear. This gap would remain roughly the same for the remainder of the race as Razgatlioglu had to bank the 20 points for 2nd.
All Razgatlioglu has to do to wrap up his 3rd WorldSBK Championship tomorrow is finish in the top 7 in the morning’s Tissot Superpole Race. The only realistic path to the title for Bulega is if he wins both races and Razgatlioglu fails to score in both, with the BMW ride 34 points clear ahead of the Sunday showdown.
A huge crash for Jonathan Rea at turn 4 thankfully left the Yamaha rider uninjured and fit to compete in his final World Superbike races tomorrow. As the race stalled out front, the capacity crowd around the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto were treated to their home hero Alvaro Bautista’s bid for the podium.
The order settled after the 3rd lap with Bulega up front, Razgatlioglu clear of the chasing pack in 2nd, then Iannone, Lowes, Xavi Vierge, Remy Gardner, Andrea Locatelli and then Bautista. The latter’s rise through the order was captivating to watch, particularly as he made his bid for the podium in the 2nd half of the race.
Having moved past the slower Yamaha duo of Locatelli and Gardner, Bautista had a fight on his hands with the Honda of Vierge and Bimota of Lowes who were squabbling over 4th. With 9 laps to go the Spaniard scythed up the inside of both in one fell swoop at the first corner in a thrilling pass for 4th and all 3 riders then began to close in on the slowing Iannone.
2 laps later, Bautista made another lunge at turn 1 but ran wide and nearly lost the front end of his bike at turn 2 while battling Iannone for the podium. He fell to 5th behind Vierge with Lowes right there as well in 6th, but Bautista was soon back into 4th just a few corners later.
Bautista eventually made it past Iannone with plenty of time to spare but the battle for 4th raged until the very end. Iannone and Vierge were swapping positions out of the last corner and into the first on the penultimate lap but the defiant Italian held on as his future remains unclear beyond this weekend.
Further back, Gardner was under threat from an impressive Tarran Mackenzie in the battle for 8th while Michael van der Mark was 10th. The Dutchman’s team will be hoping he can go out on a high tomorrow as Ducati have opened up an 8-point lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship, although the big story tomorrow will almost inevitably be the crowning of Razgatlioglu for the third time in five years.
Race 1 Results
Feature Image Credit: WorldSBK
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