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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1527275
finally bringing out red flags. The restart, over 17 laps, was forming up when suddenly Bulega was out with a technical problem, which he later said was an engine problem: A disaster for the would- be rookie champion and Ducati. The race-one action was all thriller, with 11 riders in one group covered by 2.5 seconds well into the ever-so-slightly shortened contest. The riders had been a bit cagey, hence the entertaining but not overly fast pace until about halfway. They did not know how the tires would handle a warm track and also the very grippy new surface (albeit slippery off line). Things finally started to splin - ter and split, of course, and with eight to go, the top three found a front-running pace, with Iannone, plus the rapidly advancing Garrett Gerloff and Razgatlioglu, easing away. Bautista closed in a bit, getting to within one second of Iannone, who was simply flying away out front. Petrucci had led for a very short time, set a fastest lap, then gradually dropped back. Bautista then went fastest, and Iannone went faster again, saving his best for almost last. He had been so fast in the high winds and on his tires (which proved suitable for all 17 laps) that even though he won the race, he ran out of fuel on the back straight and onto the last straight. He had enough of a gap that Razgatlioglu would have to settle for second, as the Turk's front tire was completely gone on the left side. Gerloff was a tremendous third, holding off Bautista for a BMW double-up on a podium, the German brand's first since 2021. But Iannone's career-cleansing win and obvious emotions gave everybody an excuse to discretely wipe or quietly divert their eyes. Gerloff was coming on song with his BMW just as his team had ended its BMW partnership for 2025. The 10-lap Superpole race was a battle between three forces. Early leaders Bulega and Razgatlioglu fought it out, while Bautista had to contend with those behind at times. He would pull off a perfect sneak attack on both his team - mate and Razgatlioglu, and then go on to hold off the BMW at the line by just 0.088 of a second, with Bulega third and 0.178 of a second behind. The final WorldS - BK race of the weekend was a rolling game of early dares, scares and fast final strategies. Bulega tried to get clear but messed it up by himself; the slick surface caused him to go off line, leading to lots of frustra - tion. He was ninth on lap two. He then showed his pace in his rookie year by coming back to finish third, 10.8 seconds behind the race winner, Alvaro Bautista. He and Razgatlioglu had put hard block passes in on each other, but as the laps counted down to a full 18, Bautista started to go faster and faster, setting the race's fastest lap on lap 17. Unreal at that stage, with Razgatlioglu hunting you down. Razgatlioglu did not have enough tire, and Bautista just had too much pace in the end. VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P39 Alvaro Bautista won the Superpole race and race two.