Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1539926
fairing in frustration. Sam Lowes said he was not really in the first race for the win, but in finishing 0.977 of a sec- ond back from Toprak he made a good show of almost disproving his own point. A few hours afterward, it felt like Razgatlioglu had finally bro - ken his last achievable WorldSBK glass ceiling, with willpower being the main performance enhance - ment. But Bulega would find even more of that a day later. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team Ducati) had an un - satisfying fourth in race one, with the front-row starter Alex Lowes fifth for a better result than he had imagined entering this round. Toprak's win saw him take 37 race wins for BMW, matching his 37 on a Yamaha. He is the only rider to have this many race victories for two manufacturers. A brilliant 10-lap Superpole race on Sunday morning was one of the best races of the sea - son, as Razgatlioglu and Bulega went at each other from start to finish. Hard inside passes and extravagant outside passes made it a spectacle worth see - ing, on repeat. In race one, Bulega's attempted final inside pass on Razgatlioglu did not quite succeed, but in this Superpole race, he took a tight inside line that Toprak could not match. Bulega then barreled out fastest onto the final straight to win by just 0.105 of a second. Bulega broke Razgatlioglu's winning streak, stopping it at a record-equaling 13 in succession. All those overtakes and block passes slowed the pace at times (even though Bulega set a 1:48.165 on lap eight), and that allowed Alvaro Bautista (Aruba. it Racing – Ducati) to finish 0.703 of a second adrift of the race win. Fourth was the rapidly improv - ing Andrea Iannone (Team Pata GoEleven), while Sam Lowes dropped to fifth. The astounding Superpole race action whetted the appetite for a real grudge match in the final race of the weekend. It seemed clear that the Ducati had the edge in the long corners in this race, but no particular ad - vantage exiting corners or on the vast back straight (Razgatlioglu disagrees completely). BMW/Toprak mistakes (only two) allowed Bulega to stop the pass and re-pass routine relative- ly early in race two. Razgatlioglu's engine brake decided to stop playing entering one chicane, and Bulega took an instant extra 1.3-second advantage. In the end, the gap from Bulega's 10th win of the year to the number-one rider of 2024 was 3.248 seconds at the flag after 18 laps. Third again was Bautista, who was catching Toprak all the time, with Iannone fourth and Jona - than Rea a heartwarmingly fast and determined fifth for Pata Maxus Yamaha. Could Rea, the GOAT, be build - ing up for a big finish before he retires at the end of the year? For Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team), 15th, 15th and 14th results, respectively, signaled a spotty weekend for the Texan on the only Kawasaki in the field in Spain. "I just don't have the pace that I need," Gerloff said. "We have got to put our heads together and figure something out, because it was looking like we were mak - ing progress in the middle of the year, and now we are just going backwards. I am not trying to be negative, but I am not happy, and we need to make some improve - ments, because this is not where we deserve to be." VOLUME 62 ISSUE 39 SEPTEMBER 30, 2025 P51 Razgatlioglu's (1) win in the opening race equaled his record set last year at 13 straight race wins.