Nicolo Bulega completed a resounding Race 1 victory after starting from pole position at the Cremona WorldSBK round.
The championship leader dominated proceedings after an early battle with Toprak Razgatlioglu to prevail in style.
Pole sitter Bulega took the holeshot into Turn 1 as he and championship rival Razgatlioglu cleared away from the rest of the field.
Bautista sneaked through on Marc VDS rider Lowes, but the leading duo had already established a near second lead by the end of the lap.
The BMW rider sneaked his way past Bulega at Turn 13 before the end of Lap 1 to continue his newfound momentum.
Pata Maxus Yamaha rider Andrea Locatelli crashed out of proceedings while fighting in the middle of the pack, resulting in his first retirement of the season thus far.
Bulega responded to take the lead down the back straight at Turn 11 on Lap 3, but Razgatlioglu’s line allowed him to squeeze through once again at Turn 13 before the start finish straight.
Despite the duo squabbling for the lead, the duo formed a 1.5s gap over the rest of the grid which only extended further in the laps to come.
Bulega tried to overtake once again but went wide on the corner entry, which put his championship rival through once again.
Aside from the fantastic duel out front, the rest of the field were contesting for fourth through to 10th position, with GoEleven’s Andrea Iannone leading the cluster.
Bulega learnt from his mistake earlier in the race at Turn 10, and once he got up on the inside, he slapped the door shut of a possible overtake from the reigning champion at Turn 13.
The second Aruba.it Ducati rider of Bautista was a distant 2.5s down the road by Lap 6, but maintained strong form to extend the gap behind.
GRT Yamaha rider Remy Gardner pounced on an Iannone error to occupy fourth, but Ducatis superiority on the back straight put the Italian back in front.
As the race reached double figures in laps, only a few bike lengths still separated Bulega and Razgatlioglu in the leading two positions, but the gap kept on extending to the Spaniard behind.
The halfway mark saw Bulega formulate a gap between himself and Razgatlioglu, with the championship leader boasting a 1.5s advantage.
Honda showed its competitiveness thanks to Spaniard Iker Lecuona making impressive moves on his team-mate Xavi Vierge and Yamaha rider Gardner on Lap 9 and Lap 11, promoting himself to fifth.
He later completed a late plunge on Iannone to rise to fourth position, but Bautista held a near seven-second advantage up the road.
All his hard work resulted in no reward, as on Lap 14 he lost the front at Turn 3, putting him out of contention for a strong result for the factory outfit.
Following the crash, none of the leading three positions changed in the second half of the race due to tyre wear playing a factor, but Bulega stretched a lead out to 2.8s over his rival.
Bulega bounced back from a Sunday double retirement in Assen to win his fifth race of the 2025 season.
Razgatlioglu settled for second despite showing aggression in the early phases to try and take the win.
Bautista finished 11.4s off his team-mate but completed the podium spots despite suffering three crashes in the two Friday practice sessions.
Iannone followed 23.2s behind the leader to take fourth, leading the middle of the pack consisting of Vierge and Gardner.
Last year’s treble winner Petrucci finished seventh after starting 13th on the grid after completing a late overtake on BMW’s Michael van der Mark.
Axel Bassani fended off a late charge from Bonovo’s Scott Redding to take ninth, whereas Alex Lowes edged out his twin, Sam, to 11th place.
Dominique Aegerter finished 13th to secure a double points finish for GRT Yamaha, followed by Barni Spark’s Yari Montella and Kawasaki’s Garrett Gerloff closing the points scoring positions.
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