Nicolo Bulega cruised to a Jerez Superpole Race victory despite a first-lap collision with WorldSBK title rival Toprak Razgatlioglu.
The Italian dominated despite being awarded a long lap penalty, winning by 4s ahead of his team-mate Alvaro Bautista.
It was Razgatlioglu who took the holeshot into Turn 1 ahead of pole sitter Bulega as both went side-by-side in a similar fashion to Saturday’s Race 1.
Both riders kept battling hard on the first lap, but they made contact in Turn 5, leaving Razgatlioglu in the gravel.
On Lap 2, Bulega was handed a long lap penalty for irresponsible riding, but it didn’t prove consequential, as he rejoined in the lead anyway.
As Razgatlioglu showed his frustration when he arrived back in the pit box, he remembered he’ll have to start Race 2 from 10th on the grid.
The chaos on Lap 1 continued with Yamaha riders Remy Gardner and Jonathan Rea, who collided heavily at Turn 4, leaving Gardner to be taken off on a stretcher.
The three riders retiring promoted GoEleven’s Andrea Iannone to second and Bautista to third, before the factory Ducati rider rose to second place on Lap 3.
Aside from the first lap action, the race out front was relatively quiet, but Bonovo rider Tarran Mackenzie rose to sixth place from his 10th-place starting position.
Bulega’s second win of the weekend puts him 22 points behind Razgatlioglu in the championship standings, taking the title fight to the final race.
Bautista claimed second to match his best result of the season on his final race weekend with the factory Ducati.
Iannone secured third to ensure a Ducati 1-2-3, finishing 1.2s behind the second factory bike.
Xavi Vierge recorded fourth place for Honda, finishing over half a second clear of Bimota’s Alex Lowes.
Andrea Locatelli overtook Mackenzie to secure sixth and finish as the lead Yamaha rider after the first lap crash between Rea and Gardner.
Iker Lecuona finished eighth to ensure both Honda riders secured points, closely followed by BMW’s Michael van der Mark and Bimota’s Axel Bassani.
Yari Montella recorded 11th for Barni Spark Racing, finishing ahead of Ryan Vickers and Bahattin Sofuoglu.
Alessandro Delbianco and Nicholas Spinelli finished 14th and 15th on the Yamaha and Ducati, respectively.
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