VOLUME ISSUE FEBRUARY , P79
BY GORDON RITCHIE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
L
ast year, Toprak Razgatlio-
glu was the dominant force
in WorldSBK, earning BMW
its first WorldSBK crown on an
M 1000 RR that was running
some important "supercon-
cessions." The title win was
mostly all Toprak's doing, but
the revised BMW let Toprak turn
his late-braking technique into
a high-speed martial art that
(sometimes literally) outmaneu
-
vered almost all the opposition.
It was also obvious last sea-
son that Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.
it Racing – Ducati) was the
coming man. He was even the
championship runner-up as a
rookie, ahead of Alvaro Bautista,
his double-champion teammate.
But even with Toprak on a
new 2025 homologation BMW
that recently and suddenly was
not allowed to carry over the
previous model's superconces
-
sion chassis mods, few foresaw
Bulega being so dominant at
round one this year as he won
all three races in a fashion that
bordered on seamless.
After a fabulous Friday,
Bulega topped Superpole quali
-
fying, and the field fell under the
spell of the number 11 Ducati,
although with the Phillip Island
track surface less grippy than
in the recent past, any ideas of
new track records were throttled
back.
"Nico" simply disappeared
from view in race one, so rapidly
in the two-part tire-change race
that none of the following riders
could give chase, never mind
find a way to halt the big red
Ducati's escape velocity.
Even the immense talent
that is Razgatlioglu, he had
nothing for Bulega, no matter
how he lashed the throttle and
squashed his front tire into the
deck in the braking zones.
Bulega won race one from
Toprak by 4.8 seconds but had
been leading by six seconds
before he eased up around his
final lap.
In a race with a mandatory
pit stop and track temperatures
heading to the 120-degree
BULEGA HOSTS
WEEKLONG PHILLIP
ISLAND
MASTERCLASS MASTERCLASS
NICOLO BULEGA RUNS NUMBER 11 ON
HIS FACTORY DUCATI, BUT IT COULD EASILY BE
NUMBER ONE NEXT YEAR IF HE CONTINUES
RIDING THE WAY HE DID AT PHILLIP ISLAND.
