Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega confirmed his dominance of the Cremona WorldSBK round by taking his third victory of the weekend in Race 2.
The Italian prevailed over rival Toprak Razgatlioglu and team-mate Alvaro Bautista to complete a treble of race wins at his home circuit.
Razgatlioglu made a better start than polesitter Bulega, but the Italian was able to maintain his advantage going down into the first corner.
Two mistakes in quick succession from Bulega gave Razgatlioglu the chance to overtake the Ducati into the final corner, and El Turco didn’t need a second invitation as he moved into the league.
The battles raged in the early stages further down the order, with the Honda of Xavi Vierge taking the advantage over Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Locatelli in the opening laps.
Bulega wouldn’t back down from the fight with the Turkish rider, and used his advantage on the straights to pressurise the BMW.
Razgatlioglu made his frustrations with his lack of horsepower clear as he shook his head while fending off Bulega on Lap 3.
On the back straight, Bulega used his advantage and moved back into the lead, with Razgatlioglu unable to respond in the final corner.
Further down the order, Petrucci somehow made a move stick on Vierge despite the bike being completely out of shape, as last year’s treble winner took fourth.
Andrea Iannone, Iker Lecuona and Michael van der Mark were also getting racy for eighth position, with Iannone passing the Dutchman.
Lecuona also tried to overtake Van der Mark, but made a mistake shortly after getting a move done and was forced to relinquish the position.
The Dutchman himself made a mistake moments later, as the battle continued to rage on for the lower points positions.
As Bulega and Razgatlioglu held their positions out front, Honda’s pace continued to be the story to follow, with Lecuona passing Iannone for eighth.
There was contact between Van der Mark and Iannone as they continued the most prevalent battle of the race, but the Dutchman took the initiative to overtake the Ducati.
Lecuona continued to make progress, passing last weekend’s race victor Locatelli for seventh.
The Spanish rider then managed to catch team-mate Vierge and the MarcVDS of Sam Lowes, and made two aggressive moves to get into the top five.
With just a few laps remaining, Bulega increased the gap between himself and Razgatlioglu to over two seconds to almost secure a second treble of 2025.
The Italian was clearly emotional as he took the chequered flag to seal his hat-trick by 1.826s.
Razgatlioglu was forced to settle for second behind his title rival once more as his BMW lacked the pace to challenge.
Bautista completed the podium in third as the rostrum remained unchanged for all three races of the weekend.
Petrucci crossed the line in fourth, as Lowes won the battle for fifth over the Honda pairing of Lecuona and Vierge.
Locatelli ended his weekend with an eighth place for Yamaha, as Van der Mark saw off a late challenge from Remy Gardner for ninth.
Alex Lowes took the flag in 11th for the Bimota team, while Kawasaki’s Garrett Gerloff was a further two seconds back in 12th.
MGM Bonovo’s Scott Redding was 13th ahead of Iannone in a disappointing 14th for the GoEleven rider.
Bimota’s Axel Bassani completed the points finishers in 15th.
70588x
nsimyk