Rather ominously for the 2027 season, Iker Lecuona finally unlocked the kind of crushing form his teammate has displayed this year by taking a comfortable treble of victories in Cremona.  But today was all about 2026 as Nicolo Bulega was crowned Superbike World Champion on home soil at the EICMA Italian Round…

 

Race 1

From his first pole position since 2022, Lecuona held the lead throughout the entire race to take a comfortable race win.  In doing so, he delayed the coronation of Bulega for at least another day with the world championship leader having no answer for his teammate.

Bulega was much closer to Sam Lowes behind than he was to Lecuona.  Sam had inherited the podium after fast-starting Yari Montella crashed out at the end of the first lap, later crashing again after restarting to make it four crashes in two days.

Alberto Surra was searching for his first podium in WorldSBK but exited the race around the same time as Tommy Bridwell to let Sam Lowes go unchallenged in third.  Another contender for the podium then emerged in the form of Lorenzo Baldassari while Sam’s brother Alex held off Garrett Gerloff for the entirety of the race.

The most action was undoubtedly between P7 and P12 as Andrea Locatelli valiantly held onto seventh as the two other Yamaha riders Remy Gardner and Stefano Manzi fell back to 11th and 12th while squabbling the entire race.  Axel Bassani, Jake Dixon and Alvaro Bautista all pressed for seventh but came home in that order.

Race 1 Results

 

Tissot Superpole Race

Bulega gambled on running the qualifying tyre to try and pounce ahead of Lecuona but his strategy would backfire.  Lecuona withstood the pressure from behind in the early laps and then Bulega – as expected – ran out of grip in the second half of the race.

The muted battle out front was at least followed by a tight contest for third.  Surra finally took his first podium ahead of Montella (who briefly got ahead on lap eight) and the two Lowes brothers, with Sam again ahead of Alex.

Baldassari and Gerloff crashed out at the Parabolica corner on the first lap while Bautista retired further back.  Meanwhile, Gardner had been declared unfit and Dixon again impressed while scything through to ninth on his Honda.

Tissot Superpole Results

 

Race 2

World champion-elect Bulega once again had to settle for second as his teammate romped to his first ever treble, but he had done enough to be crowned on home soil with two rounds and six races to spare in 2026.  It marks the conclusion of an emotional redemption arc for Bulega, once on the path to MotoGP with guidance from Valentino Rossi, cast aside and rebuilding himself in World Supersport, then doing so well over the last three years that he will now return to VR46 in the premier class of motorcycling next year as Superbike World Champion.

The Italian has won 26 out of 30 races held so far this year, and including the last four of last year went on an unprecedented 25-race winning run.  His worst finish all season is second, and his promotion to MotoGP next year is absolutely deserved having utterly crushed his opposition with an unparalleled level of dominance and consistency.

Behind Bulega came Montella just a second clear of Surra, the latter enjoying the most impressive round of his debut WorldSBK season to date.  Those two were initially chased by the Lowes brothers but Sam took himself out at the final corner while trying to pass his brother.

Baldassari had work to do after crashing in the morning and was a joy to watch in a rather mute race cutting through the field to seventh.  It was very nearly sixth but Dixon held on to take his best result of his injury-affected season in sixth and his Honda teammate Somkiat Chantra almost beat Danilo Petrucci to line for 12th.

Sixth was the position that Bridewell crashed out of with Oliveria, Vierge and Bautista (for the second time today) also failing to finish.  The Yamaha riders finished no higher than 10th while Gerloff and Bassani had anonymous runs to eighth and ninth.

Race 2 Results

 

Championship Standings

 

Feature Image Credit: WorldSBK