DEFINING STORIES, ROUND 1: Bulega strikes first with emphatic WorldSBK season-opening hat-trick
After his breakout 2024 rookie season and a preseason limited by poor weather, Nicolo Bulega set himself up for success with a Round 1 hat trick as Razgatlioglu stumbled out of the gate
The 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign title fight went down to the final round, with Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) beating Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) to the crown. While the Italian rookie had shown prodigious speed despite his recent arrival in the Championship, ‘El Turco’ had come out on top in their first campaign as adversaries. The 2025 offseason was one filled with intrigue, while both the BMW and Ducati factory team lineups stayed the same, new fuel flow regulations, BMW’s homologation of their new 2025 M 1000 RR, and, most importantly, Razgatlioglu’s right index finger injury left many scratching their heads as to the outcome of the inbound 2025 campaign.
STARTING THE SEASON IN STYLE: ‘Bulegas’ full throttle to open 2025
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit’s flowing layout, with its high-speed corners, makes it a track where Bulega has always excelled. The #11 won a double in his second year in WorldSSP, and in 2024, he topped the podium in Race 1 – his first WorldSBK race. He came into Saturday’s Race 1 already showing laser focus, having topped every session from Friday morning’s Free Practice 1 to Saturday’s Tissot Superpole. Race 1 proved no exception to Buelga’s pace; the Italian Sophomore left the rest of the field in the dust as he beat the newly-emblazoned #1 Razgatlioglu to the finish line by 4.811s.
MAKING IT A FIRST HAT-TRICK: #11 Puts the hammer down to seal the weekend
While winning the season-opening race by such a margin was certainly a statement win for the Italian, he had only earned five points more than Razgatlioglu’s tally, and if 2024 taught him anything, it’s that one has to fight tooth and nail for any point that they can deprive him of. Sunday’s Tissot Superpole Race allowed Bulega to do just that, as tech issues with Razgatlioglu’s newly homologated M1000 RR saw him fall outside the point-scoring positions to P13, ending a 10-race first or second place streak dating back to the return at Aragon from his 2024 pneumothorax injury. Sunday afternoon’s Race 2 was an even sweeter break for Bulega, as his 2024 title rival was forced to retire with a tech issue, and the #11 capitalised to lead an all-Ducati top three onto the rostrum.
Phillip Island 2025 was Bulega’s first career hat-trick, achieved in style, as he cumulatively finished 9.738s faster than the second-fastest rider behind him across the three races. In Championship terms, his performance Down Under placed Bulega 26 points clear of his teammate Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) in second, and 42 points clear of Razgatlioglu in P8.
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