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/1547087
IN THE P52 second lap, so I have been kicking myself for that. But I was really happy with race two. I felt good, the bike felt really positive, so thanks to the team for giving me a good bike to end the weekend on. I am happy to be in the top seven. That's all we had this weekend." In the championship points, Bulega has 664. That is one more than Jonathan Rea's previ- ous season best, giving Bulega yet another stand-alone record. Lecuona has 518 points, Montella (fourth in race two and thus the new Independent Riders' Champi- on) has 290, and Alex Lowes 237. The final round, just a few days after the Estoril extravaganza of record-book immolation, will be at Jerez. Now Bulega can reach a possible 32 wins from 36 races, and 36 podiums from 36 starts. And all his 2026 season com- petitors will be mighty glad to see him move up to MotoGP in 2027. WorldSSP New 2026 WorldSSP Champion, Albert Arenas (AS Racing Ya- maha), clearly wanted to win the championship by winning race one, but the PTR Factory Tri- umphs of Tom Booth-Amos and Oli Bayliss, plus Cremona double race winner Jeremy Alcoba (Ka- wasaki WorldSSP Team) prevent- ed this from happening. Arenas was fourth, and with his only possible championship rival Valentin Debise (ZXMoto Factory Evan Bros Racing) sixth, it was all over by Saturday lunchtime. It was a full house in 2026 for Yamaha, as the blue bikes also took the Manufacturers' crown after race one. In the end, it was Booth-Amos who held off Bayliss in his best- ever WorldSSP race, taking the win by 0.075 of a second with Alcoba 0.147 of a second behind in third. Race two was a red-flagged and restarted affair, over a sub- sprint six laps. Starting from fourth this time, Alcoba took a clear win from Filippo Farioli (VFT Racing Team Yamaha) and Debise. Can Oncu (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) was fourth and former champion Lucas Mahias (GMT94-Yamaha) was fifth. Arenas, so jubilant and core- deep happy on Saturday, saw a technical problem halt his race in the first attempted running before the red flag. Both Booth-Amos and Bayliss would crash out on Sunday, with Bayliss recovering to 19th. In the championship rank- ings, Arenas has an untouchable advantage and he now has 364 points to Debise's 291. Oncu is third with 234. Gordon Ritchie WorldSBK Race One (Top 10) 1. Nicolo Bulega (Duc) 33:34.620 2. Iker Lecuona (Duc) +3.870 3. Alberto Surra (Duc) +9.668 4. Miguel Oliveira (BMW) +11.444 5. Alex Lowes (bim) +12.749 6. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Duc) +17.850 7. Axel Bassani (bim) +19.335 8. Yari Montella (Duc) +19.368 9. Alvaro Bautista (Duc) +20.734 10. Garrett Gerloff (Kaw) +21.560 Superpole Race (Top 10) 1. Nicolo Bulega (Duc) 15:52.751 2. Iker Lecuona (Duc) +0.734 3. Alberto Surra (Duc) +6.465 4. Miguel Oliveira (BMW) +6.606 5. Alvaro Bautista (Duc) +8.152 6. Axel Bassani (bim) +10.035 7. Xavi Vierge (Yam) +11.642 8. Jake Dixon (Hon) +12.120 9. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Duc) +12.960 10. Sam Lowes (Duc) +13.953 WorldSBK Race Two (Top 10) 1. Nicolo Bulega (Duc) 33:28.170 2. Iker Lecuona (Duc) +4.888 3. Alberto Surra (Duc) +16.073 4. Yari Montella (Duc) +18.153 5. Axel Bassani (bim) +21.430 6. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Duc) +22.894 7. Garrett Gerloff (Kaw) +25.584 8. Miguel Oliveira (BMW) +26.236 9. Xavi Vierge (Yam) +31.680 10. Jake Dixon (Hon) +31.992 Albert Arenas' fourth in race one was enough to clinch him the WorldSSP title as a rookie. WIND