Nicolo Bulega won FIM Superbike World Championship Race One Saturday at Jerez de la Frontera, in Spain. Bulega started from pole position rode his Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale V4R to a 3.766- second margin of victory in the 20-lap race.
2024 WorldSuperbike Champion, Toprak Razgatlioglu was the runner-up on his ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team M1000RR and Bulega’s teammate, Alvaro Bautista crossed the finish line third.
Americans Garrett Gerloff finished the race 14th on his Kawasaki ZX-10RR and Bobby Fong 21st on his Attack Performance Yamaha YZF R1.
Toprak Razgatlioglu leads the championship with 600 points, 34 ahead of Nicolo Bulega who has 566 points. Alvaro bautista is third with 308 points.
Results wsbk race 1
More from a press release issued by Dorna:
A SUNDAY SHOWDOWN AWAITS: Bulega’s Race 1 victory ahead of Razgatlioglu takes the title fight to the final day. The title will be decided on the last day of the 2025 season as Bulega dominated Race 1 ahead of the Championship leader.
The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship will go down to the final day of the 2025 season after Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) beat Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) by almost four seconds in Race 1 at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto, Andalucia. ‘Bulegas’ was unbeaten on Saturday as he converted his pole position into victory in the Pirelli Spanish Round, while ‘El Turco’ came home in second – but that wasn’t enough to secure the title a day early.
BULEGA BOLTS ON LAP 1: Taking control in the opening laps
Razgatlioglu initially got a great start to take the lead at Turn 1, but Bulega responded through the opening sector to claim the lead, while Razgatlioglu fell down the order, eventually fighting back to P2 at Turn 6 after passing Andrea Iannone (Team Pata GoEleven). Razgatlioglu’s issue was Bulega was already two seconds clear of ‘El Turco’ by this point. ‘Bulegas’ was in a league of his own in the early stages of Race 1, lapping in the 1’38s while Razgatlioglu was in the 1’39s, as the #11 cruised to victory, ensuring the title fight would roll on to the final day of the season. Bulega took the 18th win of his WorldSBK career, while Razgatlioglu claimed his 25th consecutive podium: equalling Colin Edwards’ all-time record. In terms of the title, Razgatlioglu needs to score just three points across Sunday’s races to be guaranteed the title.
BATTLING FOR THE PODIUM: Four riders scrap it out
As in recent rounds, it was a fierce fight for third with Iannone leading the fight in the early stages of the 20-lap race, although he faced a lot of pressure from Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) and Xavi Vierge (Honda HRC) directly behind, while Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was fighting his way through the field. Lowes often had the run on ‘The Maniac’ through Turn 12 into the final right-hand hairpin of Turn 13, but Iannone was able to resist Lowes’ challenge. At the end of Lap 11, Bautista took a different line through Turn 13, using that advantage to pass both Vierge and Lowes into Turn 1 to move into P4. At the end of Lap 13, Bautista tried to pass Iannone at Turn 13 but ran wide and pulled off a miraculous save, allowing the #29 to keep P3 but taking the position at Turn 1; until he made a mistake at Turn 2, dropping behind Iannone and Vierge. At Turn 6 on Lap 15, Bautista was back in P3 as he passed Iannone under braking at Turn 6. That allowed the #19 to strengthen his grip on third in the World Championship. Bautista’s P3 set a new record for most consecutive P3 finishes, with six. Bautista’s pass left Iannone vulnerable to Vierge behind, with the #97 all over the Italian rider for P4 while Lowes had dropped back. On Lap 18, Vierge passed Iannone at Turn 13, although Iannone responded at Turn 5 on Lap 19 when the Spaniard ran wide, before he pulled out a gap over Vierge to secure fourth.
DROPPING BACK FROM THE TOP SIX: Locatelli seventh, Mackenzie fights Gardner
Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) had battled Bautista in the early stages but dropped behind the Ducati rider on the run into Turn 6, with ‘Loka’ settling for seventh place with a relatively big margin either side of him. He finished ahead of Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) in eighth, with the Australian fending off Tarran Mackenzie (MGM BONOVO Action) who was hounding him in the second half of the race. The #95 claimed ninth with Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) rounding out the top ten.
HOLDING ON FOR THE TOP TEN: Van der Mark resists Bassani’s challenge
The Dutchman had to fend off Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) to claim a top-ten finish with the Italian finishing half-a-second down on the BMW rider. Iker Lecuona (Honda HRC) was 12th, just four tenths behind ‘El Bocia’, with Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team), Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) and Ryan Vickers (Motocorsa Racing) rounding out the points-paying positions.
WILDCARD JUST MISSES OUT: Tulovic less than five seconds away from the points
Bahattin Sofuoglu (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) finished three seconds down on the final point in Race 1 as he claimed 16th, ahead of wildcard Lukas Tulovic (Team Triple M Ducati Frankfurt) in 17th. Tito Rabat (PETRONAS MIE Honda Racing Team) was 18th with Nicholas Spinelli (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Michael Rinaldi (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) rounding out the top 20. Bobby Fong and Zaqhwan Zaidi (PETRONAS MIE Honda Racing Team) were the last classified riders.
RETIREMENTS FROM RACE 1: Rea and Delbianco crash out
Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha) had been running in the top ten in Race 1, but he had a high-speed crash at Turn 4 on the third lap, ending his race early but he was able to walk away from the fall. Alessandro Delbianco (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) crashed at Turn 5.
The top six from WorldSBK Race 1, full results here:
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +3.766s
3. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +9.569s
4. Andrea Iannone (Team Pata Go Eleven) +11.221s
5. Xavi Vierge (Honda HRC) +12.272s
6. Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +12.755s
Fastest Lap: Nicolo Bulega (Ducati), 1’38.737s
The title fight rolls on to Sunday! Watch it all from 09:15 Local Time (UTC+2) using the WorldSBK VideoPass – now only €9.99!