Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) secured a first MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship win on home soil after delivering a Cremona Circuit masterclass in Race 1. The #11 withstood battled hard with Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in the first third of the 23-lap race before building a gap over ‘El Turco’ to claim victory during the Acerbis Italian Round as he bounced back from his Assen disappointment with pole position and victory on Saturday in Italy.

The first laps of the race were dominated by a fight between Bulega and Razgatlioglu as this year’s current top two in the Championship went head-to-head on track. Razgatlioglu got the jump into P2, behind Bulega, when lights went out before ‘El Turco’ made his first move for at the final Turn 13 on Lap 1 before Bulega tried to respond on the next lap. Razgatlioglu kept P1 at the same Turn 13. On Lap 4, Bulega ran slightly wide at Turn 11 which allowed the #1 to keep P1 for another lap. The battle continued on Lap 5 but on Lap 6, ‘Bulegas’ was able to get ahead of his rival at Turn 13 and, while Razgatlioglu was able to stay within a few tenths for a while, Bulega started to pull out a gap before claiming victory by 2.835s.

Discussing his battle with the reigning Champ, Bulega said: “Toprak is always very aggressive. His plan was to try to stop me because my pace was very good. I was just staying calm and knowing that if I could overtake him, when he would be behind me, I’d have something more. When I overtook him, I tried to do my pace and my plan worked well.”

Bulega’s win at Cremona marked a small milestone for the Italian as he claimed victory on home soil for the first time in WorldSBK. He’d previously had a trio of P2s at Misano in June last year, while at Cremona in 2024, he was second, fourth and third. He has tasted victory in WorldSSP in Italy, having won Race 1 at Misano in 2023, but Saturday marked his first WorldSBK victory on home soil and Bulega – usually a fairly reserved character – was full of delight in Parc Ferme and on the podium.

Talking about the victory, ‘Bulegas’ stated: “After Assen, I needed a win and to win here in Italy is incredible, especially here at Cremona. I never have a lot of fun riding here because this track, for me, is very difficult. It’s incredible to win here. It means we made a step from last year and we can fight in every race.”

Can Bulega make it a dream home hat-trick? Find out from 09:00 Local Time (UTC+2) on Sunday using the WorldSBK VideoPass!