#motorcycleracing

3rd May 20256th May 2025

WorldSBK: Bulega repels early Razgatliogu challenge in Cremona Race 1

Nicolo Bulega enjoyed a thrilling battle with championship rival Toprak Razgatlioglu in Race 1 at Cremona before blasting off into the distance to win in front of his home fans and senior Ducati management.

After denying Sam Lowes back-to-back pole positions, Bulega launched away from pole position in the first WorldSBK race at Cremona but was pursued by Razgatlioglu. Come the final corner of lap 1 Razgatlioglu muscled his way past to herald the start of a titanic fight for the win, however things would peter out around one-third distance…

On Razgatlioglu’s first visit to the Cremona Circuit after injury ruled him out of last year’s event, the Turkish rider had a great opportunity to take advantage of the pressure that might have been affecting Bulega. Not only was the Italian rider racing for an Italian factory on home soil, but Ducati had some of its senior MotoGP personnel in attendance to keep an eye on the man that might bring the WorldSBK crown back to them this year if recent form is to be believed.

Everyone in attendance was treated to a great battle between the two that seemed to be going Razgatlioglu’s way in the first few laps before the two almost collided at the end of lap 3. The BMW rider’s defence proved successful but Bulega was never far behind and always able to quickly recover from his failed attempts to pass the Turk.

By the end of lap 6 of 23, Bulega finally made a move stick on Razgatlioglu. Despite a valiant attempt to retake in an unconventional spot for overtaking through turns 3 and 4, it would mark the end of Razgatlioglu’s time in the lead of the race as Bulega stretched his lead by around 0.3 seconds per lap.

At the start of the last lap, Bulega was so far ahead that by the time he swept through the notoriously fast turn 1 at Cremona, Razgatlioglu was not even in the same camera shot on the start-finish straight. Bulega declared this the most important win of his career thus far in World Superbikes and it is hard to see why with all eyes on him and such a crushing performance to rebound from the heartbreak of Assen.

Someone who was unfortunate not to feature in the fight at the front was Sam Lowes, whose P2 on the grid disappeared almost immediately once the race got underway. Lowes slipped down the top 10 in the early stages but after running wide on lap 6 he was consigned to 12th place at the chequered flag.

Alvaro Bautista was in a race of his own in Cremona as he had neither to pace to challenge the front two but more than enough to keep the chasing pack behind. Andrea Iannone spent the majority of the race in 4th but was passed by Iker Lecuona about halfway through.

By the time the Honda rider had made it into 4th following a frighteningly close battle with his teammate Xavi Vierge, the Spaniard was already 7 seconds by Bautista. Rather foolishly, Lecuona pushed too hard for too little of a chance to take 3rd and threw away valuable points for a guaranteed 4th in a self-induced crash on lap 15.

Iannone was left to fend off Vierge and Remy Gardner while Danilo Petrucci tried his best to make progress but could only manage 7th. The Italian rider was unable to repeat his 2024 feats around the Cremona Circuit and started outside the top 10 having been blocked by his compatriot Andrea Locatelli during qualifying (for which the Yamaha rider received a grid penalty and then had an underwhelming race of his own).

Michael van der Mark came home in 9th while Scott Redding split the Bimota duo, then came Lowes in 12th ahead of Dominque Aegeter, Yari Montella and Garrett Gerloff as the last of the points scorers. The Tissot Superpole and Race 2 at the Acerbis Italian Round get underway tomorrow and Bulega looks odds on to make it a hat-trick at home.

Feature Image Credit: WorldSBK

13th April 2025

WorldSBK: Locatelli takes maiden win amid double Bulega retirement

Andrea Locatelli inherited a first WorldSBK victory in Assen after the frighteningly fast Nicolo Bulega suffered mechanical problems in both the Tissot Superpole and Race 2 to leave the championship leader pointless on Sunday at the Pirelli Dutch Round.

TISSOT SUPERPOLE RACE

Rain was falling as expected on Sunday morning at the TT Circuit Assen, with the warmup and Tissot Superpole being a wet affair for the WorldSBK riders. With the qualifying session on Saturday also setting the grid for the Superpole race, Sam Lowes had a second shot at converting his maiden pole position while Razgatiloglu and Axel Bassani were not affected by any grid penalties unlike in Race 1 yesterday.

As the sun started to break through the clouds by the 11am race start time, Bulega once again shot from second into the race lead ahead of Lowes as he had done in the first race on the previous day. Lowes fell to ninth by running wide at turn 1 in the tricky conditions, which left Razgatlioglu to chase Bulega for the race lead.

Andrea Iannone did well at the start to jump into third, a place that he eventually lost to his fellow Andrea – Locatelli – who had taken an impressive second place the day before. Things only got worse for Iannone, who ran wide then later crashed his satellite Go Eleven Ducati bike.

Razgatlioglu made a move on Bulega for the lead at turn 5 on the 2^nd lap. The gap between the top two in the race and the championship ballooned to almost one second by the end of the lap as the BMW rider best adapted to the tricky conditions.

Lowes began to recover from his off at the start and made it back to the podium by the end of the 10-lap affair. The marcVDS Ducati rider had to try twice on the same lap to get past Alvaro Bautista’s factory bike, and then easily inherited second when Bulega ran wide at turn 1.

As it transpired, Bulega had an issue with his Ducati Panigale V4R that dropped him out of contention. The results from the top nine in the Tissot Superpole Race determine the starting grid for Race 2, from which the championship leader would have to start from 10^th place.

With Razgatlioglu, Lowes and Bautista coming home on the podium, home hero Michael van der Mark tried valiantly to take P4 from Locatelli but came up short. Scott Redding had a respectable ride to 6^th after passing Remy Gardner in the closing stages.

Yari Montella and Tarran McKenzie also did well in the wet to start race 2 from row 3. With Bulega mired on row 4 and Razgatlioglu taking a chunk of points from his rival with his 12 points for the win, it set up a fascinating final race in the afternoon.

TISSOT SUPERPOLE RACE RESULTS

RACE 2

With Bulega stuck in 10^th place for the start of the 21-lap Sunday afternoon race, his rivals ahead knew that there was a real chance to capitalise on the championship leader coming from so far back. Razgatlioglu and his BMW team opted to use hard tyres to give himself more grip for the end of the race when the inevitable pace of Bulega would come to haunt him, or at least that was the thinking…

The hard tyres simply never worked for Razgatlioglu as Bulega predictably deployed his superior pace to methodically work his way towards the front of the grid. Once again Sam Lowes had a difficult start from the front row, while Bautista passed Razgatlioglu for the initial lead.

The race developed into a train of the top 7 bikes by about ¼ distance, with Bulega at the back of the pack having risen calmly from 10^th. Locatelli had swooped past Razgatlioglu on the 2^nd lap, while Remy Gardner had a thrilling start to run as high as 2^nd himself.

As Locatelli and Gardner fought tooth and nail for P2, Razgatlioglu continued to fall down the order. After Locatelli had finally dealt with Gardner to cement 2^nd on lap 7, the Yamaha rider had enough pace to reel in Bautista for the race lead.

Once Locatelli had passed Bautista, Bulega was ready to seize on his teammate and then overtook Locatelli for the lead at the halfway point. That was the last anyone saw of Bulega until it all went wrong for the second time in one day.

While Bulega stretched his lead the race settled down with Locatelli, Bautista, Gardner, Lowes, Bassani and Razgatlioglu the order. Then Bulega tragically retired once again with just 2 laps to go after such a stunning ride in Assen that went unrewarded.

Locatelli was left to inherit his first victory in the Superbike World Championship after a record 154 winless attempts. Meanwhile, a frustrated Razgatlioglu lost a further two spots at the end to Alex Lowes and Iker Lecuona to fall to eighth in a race where he could have taken up to 25 points out of the championship leader.

RACE 2 RESULTS

Feature Image Credit: Ducati

13th April 2025

WorldSBK: Bulega dominates as chaos reigns behind in Assen Race 1

Nicolo Bulega rode off into the distance in Assen to take a dominant victory in the first race of the weekend. There was a tragic result for shock first-time polesitter Sam Lowes while Toprak Razgatlioglu was only fourth despite running as high as second.

Ahead of Race 1 in the Netherlands, 3-place grid penalties were dished out to Razgatlioglu and Axel Bassani. With his main championship rival demoted to sixth, Bulega knew that if he could ace the start and build a big enough gap out front he would be unchallenged for the win… and this is exactly what transpired.

The pressure that Bulega put onto his rivals by seizing the lead at the start is what may have led to so much chaos behind him. At the end of the first lap, polesitter Lowes had fallen behind Andrea Locatelli.

There were faster riders stuck in the middle of the top 10 – notably Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista. Razagatlioglu was busy fending off a charging Bassani on the first lap but by lap 2 he began to move forward from his grid spot of 6^th.

By the end of lap 2, the reigning World Champion passed Bautista then moved past Petrucci on the next tour. This left the factory Ducati of Bautista to engage in a thrilling battle with the satellite bike of Petrucci for fifth.

Once Bautista eventually dealt with the defiant Barni Ducati rider, he seized upon Razgatlioglu’s inability to pass Lowes for third to scythe through on his old rival for fourth. However, Razgatlioglu got back past them both as they began lap 6 in a brilliant piece of racecraft , then in his haste to make amends Bautista made a clumsy move halfway round the same lap to knock himself and Lowes out of the race.

The crash meant Bautista has eliminated himself from Race 1 at both of the last two rounds and trails his teammate Bulega by almost 80 points after just 7 of 36 races this year. As for Lowes, his maiden WSBK pole for MarcVDS would perhaps have been rewarded with a podium finish but it was sadly not to be.

While Bulega disappeared into the distance with fastest lap and pace that was sometimes as much as half a second better than Locatelli and the others behind, the focus switched to the battle for second. Razgatlioglu reeled in his old Yamaha teammate with 13 laps still to go, but instead of eating into Bulega’s near 5 second lead he was unable to keep Locatelli out of striking distance.

As the factory BMW and Yamaha riders duelled for second, Petrucci began to reel them in, while Razgatlioglu’s teammate and home hero Michael van der Mark was fifth. Yari Montella, Bahattin Sofuoglu, Alex Lowes (who rejoined) and Andrea Iannone all crashed out in that order to promote Garrett Gerloff and the Honda duo to 6^th, 7^th and 8^th and all began to catch the second factory BMW rider.

Locatelli moved Razgatlioglu up and out of the way through the hairpin on lap 12 before Petrucci also took the BMW rider two laps later with a great move through the fast chicane at the end of the back straight. Despite Razgatlioglu getting back past the Italian at turn 1 on the next lap, Petrucci sealed the deal with three laps to go to take the final spot on the podium.

Behind the top four, all hell broke loose in the battle for fifth as van der Mark’s pace disappeared as the race wore on and Lecuona asserted himself as the best of the rest. As van der Mark and Gerloff fell down the order, the Honda’s battled Bassani, Dominque Aegerter and Remy Gardner as the race reached its climax.

Bassani made it two crashes for the Bimota Kawasaki team with a self-inflicted crash on the final lap, while Lecuona held off his teammate for fifth in a strong result for Honda. With rain possibly on its way for tomorrow’s Tissot Superpole and Race 2, Lowes, Bautista and Razgatlioglu in particular will all be hoping they can take the fight to Bulega in better circumstances in the remainder of the Pirelli Dutch Round.

Race 1 Results

Feature Image Credit: WorldSBK

29th March 2025

WorldSBK: Razgatlioglu restarts title defence in Portugal after disastrous Australian opener

After a frustrating start to the defence of his Superbike World Championship title in Phillip Island five weeks ago, Toprak Razgatlioglu broke the lap record in Portimao to secure pole position before scoring a narrow victory over his main rival Nicolo Bulega in race 1. Although there were not quite as many changes of positions as Razgatlioglu has experienced with Alvaro Bautista in the past, the lead changed hands several times between the BMW and his Ducati nemesis before the Turkish rider crossed the line just 0.067 seconds in front.

Things got off to a bad start for Razgatlioglu as he fell to fifth by the first corner. A few seconds later, two of his Ducati-powered rivals crashed out as Bautista and Scott Redding came to blows as the field bunched up through turns 3 and 4, with Remy Gardner involved as well but surviving the contact.

There were six teams being represented in the top eight positions after the first lap. Bulega broke free at the front of the Ducati-dominated pack with Andrea Locatelli in an impressive second for Yamaha and Razgtlioglu on his BMW the only riders from different marques in the front eight.

Razgatlioglu is notoriously strong around the Algarve International Circuit and the Turkish rider began to plot his way back through to the front. His first victim was Danilo Petrucci who he swooped over the crest to pass around the outside in a sensational move before dispatching Sam Lowes and Locatelli by around one-quarter race distance.

It was not long before the reigning World Champion reeled in Bulega and the two began a 15-lap battle for the win that never looked certain until it was over. A common theme across the position changes for the lead would be Razgatlioglu leading into turn 14 before Bulega deployed his slightly superior Ducati power through the long turn 15 to blast ahead by turn one on the following lap.

The fight was fairer this time around for Razgatlioglu compared to when he was riding for the slower Yamaha against Bautista’s Ducati before his switch to BMW, with their 2023 battles around the Portimao track living long in the memory of all those blessed to witness it. However, Razgatlioglu still had to push as hard as he could to defeat a defiant Bulega in the sweltering Portugese Saturday afternoon sunshine.

The Ducati held a 2mph advantage on the BMW and it was at the end of the long straight on lap seven that Bulega first took his lead straight back from Razgatioglu, before Toprak finally cemented the lead for a while after an agressive move at turn 12 on lap 9.

Bulega was back in front briefly with a late move at the end of the start-finish straight on lap 10 but Razgatlioglu was back in front as the circuit tightened into turn 3 and the Ducati ran wide. However, Bulega made a move stick into turn one once again on lap 14.

This lead for Bulega lasted three laps before Razgatlioglu then finally got the better of the Ducati into turn one. Then came one last successful retaliation from Bulega with two laps to go before his Turkish rival once again got him back quickly and held onto win by 0.067 across the line at the end of a thrilling 20 laps.

There were just 17 riders who took the chequered flag. Both of the Lowes brothers crashed out while running strongly with Sam eliminating himself from the top five not long after being moved aside by a charging Razgatlioglu and Alex sliding out of ninth place after a stellar recovery from the back of the grid (after an incident in qualifying) that came to nought.

The TV footage seldom focused on the action further down the grid as the top two stretched their lead on the rest of the pack despite passing and re-passing each other. Locatelli was thrilled to take his and Yamaha’s first podium of the year – some eight seconds behind the two leaders and just one in front of top independent rider Petrucci.

Seven seconds behind Petrucci in fourth just five seconds then covered the rest of the top ten, with Gardner’s Yamaha being usurped on the run to the finish line by three of his rivals to end up in tenth. There should be more action to look forward to in tomorrow’s pair of races starting with the 10-lap Superpole, but Bulega will need to pray the BMW on pole messes up the start once again if he is to stand any chance of defeating the rejuvenated Razgatlioglu.

Results from Race 1:

Feature Image Credit: SBK