Nicolo Bulega set the tone for the return of World Superbike action with a win in Race 1 after early success securing P1 in Superpole. Bulega started in the lead and kept it after getting the holeshot off the line and never looked back. Despite running a 2024 spec bike Aruba.it Racing has clearly found something that their competitors have not. Bulega finished 4.811 second ahead of second place finisher, and last years champion Toprak Razgatlioglu.
The battle behind between Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista with the margin between them 0.3 seconds. Danilo Petrucci from Barni Spark Racing found him self another top 5 finish just under 2 tenths ahead of Scott Redding. Early signs point to another dominant trend from the Ducati V4Rs. Superpole race is up next to determine if Bulega can work his way towards a hattrick for the weekend.
Of Note, Italian Rookie Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) crashed in his debut race after one lap which was a disappointment for the young talent given the progress he has made in pre season testing. On the ninth lap Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) slid out in turn one which also forced him to retire from the race. A number of riders had technical issues with their machines which resulted in a total of 6 riders retiring from the race.
Full Race 1 Results