DEFINING STORIES, ROUND 3: Assen mishaps throw a spanner in the works for the Championship leaders
After trading hat trick for hat trick in the first two rounds, Bulega and Razgatlioglu both had their struggles at the historic ‘Cathedral of Speed’
Third-up on the 2025 calendar, the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship returned to the historic TT Assen Circuit. The grid arrived at a damp and dour Dutch circuit after a bifurcated pair of rounds to kick off the campaign. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) jumped out in front with vigour at Phillip Island, landing his first WorldSBK hat trick at the season opener, and defending Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) fired back in round two at Portimao, landing a hat trick of his own, showing his affinity once again for the ‘rollercoaster’.
A MIXED SATURDAY: Bulega strikes, Razgatlioglu stumbles
By the time Saturday afternoon’s Race 1 riders took to the track, the asphalt had mostly dried off from the morning’s deluge. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) led the title titans #11 and #1 in the Tissot Superpole session, earning his first-ever WorldSBK pole in doing so. When the lights went out on Race 1, Bulega had another of his blistering jumps off the line ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha), who started in P4. From there, Bulega put the hammer down and sailed forward at the front of the grid. Finishing in P1 with a margin of almost eight seconds, Bulega looked poised for another dominant performance like in Phillip Island; meanwhile, Razgatlioglu had a much less snappy start to his Race, falling to P8 by the start of Lap 2. While ‘El Turco’ was able to close the gap to the front by Lap 3, in the end he was overpowered by Locatelli and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) to finish P4 and miss the podium without a crash or tech issue for the first time since a year prior at Assen in his Superpole Race P9. With his win, ‘Bulegas’ fortified his Championship lead, growing from 29 points to 41 after Race 1.
SUPERPOLE RACE DRAMA: victory for ‘El Turco’ as ‘Bulegas’ suffers tech issue
Sunday opened with Sam Lowes earning his best-ever WorldSBK result in P2. Ahead of the #14, Razgatlioglu recovered 12 points on Bulega as he won the rainy Superpole Race; his first win in wet conditions in his WorldSBK career. Bulega’s Sunday of tribulations began in earnest in the Superpole Race, as while he was more than three seconds behind the defending Champion, he was on pace for P2, which would have seen him drop just three points to the Turk. That is, however, until Bulega’s bike suddenly puttered out on Turn 1 of Lap 7, converting his P2 into a non-scoring DNF.
MORE TWISTS IN RACE 2: Bulega’s second DNF of the day as Razgatlioglu falters
Undeterred after the Superpole Race mishap, Bulega came into Race 2 with a chip on his shoulder. Starting from P10, he fought his way up through the grid to reclaim P1 by Lap 16, leading Locatelli and teammate Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati). With two laps to go, it looked like Bulega was going to take home his second race win of the weekend and further build on his Championship lead, as Razgatlioglu had tumbled down the order to P8 after having started pole. As he was on the main straight heading towards Turn 1, he began to slow down. Bulega, under his helmet, frantically twisted the throttle and looked down at his display as the bike stopped responding to his inputs. The Italian was forced to retire, his all-but-assured race win dashed, and instead the #11 saw his lead diminish by a net total of 20 points, combining the Superpole Race and Race 2.
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