rus grew louder over the rest of
the weekend, too.
Cometh the hour of reckon-
ing for Bulega, this year's top
competitor
on the best bike. He
made good on the promises
that had been built up on his
behalf and went out and won the
21-lap contest at the overgrown
(but beautifully appointed) fast
kart track that seems to be the
2.5-mile-long Balaton circuit,
complete with its extra chicane
for WorldSBK use, of course.
Fourteen consecutive race wins
in WorldSBK is the record Bulega
set on Saturday. His teammate,
Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing -
Ducati), who was still recovering
from an illness that had spoiled
his Friday on-track experiences,
started too far back in eighth
place on the grid (punished for
going too slowly in Superpole and
dropping from his original fifth
place) to do any damage.
"Only" six Ducatis finished
in the top nine on Saturday at
Balaton, but most importantly,
"Big Mig" Oliveira secured his
fourth career WorldSBK podium
finish, finishing third. He was 12
seconds from the win and 10
from second place, but BMW has
found a new talisman, even if he
is not yet at Razgatlioglu's level.
Alex Lowes was sixth on the
lead bimota, but he had not
thought he would finish quite
that high up.
Alberto Surra (Motocorsa and
an ex-VR46 Academy rider) was
a new star in second place for a
while, but he finished eighth.
A nasty lap-one crash for
Oliveira in the 10-lap Superpole
race followed an initial colli
-
sion between Andrea Locatelli
(Pata
Maxus Yamaha) and Sam
Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing
Team Ducati) at the narrow T5/
T6 transition point, which left
Oliveira with a concussion and
an injured left shoulder. It looked
nasty, as he was hit a couple
of times and smacked into the
ground hard after his highside.
He was taken to the hospital for
checks (he was conscious and
walking before then, it seems).
More medical updates are on the
way, but it appears, thankfully,
less serious than it looked.
The final shortened Superpole
race got underway for eight laps,
not 10.
Bulega, of course, won the
race, ahead of Lecuona and the
impressive Baldassarri.
VOLUME 63 ISSUE 18 MAY 5, 2026 P63
American Garrett Gerloff (21)
had an encouraging weekend
in Hungary. He capped off the
weekend with a fifth in the
second WorldSBK race.
