Oli Bayliss Takes Career-best Fourth at Balaton

Aussie challenges hard for podium as Manzi does the double

Round nine of the 2025 World Supersport Championship at Hungary’s brand-new Balaton Park circuit saw Stefano Manzi stamp his authority with a double race victory — but it was Australia’s Oli Bayliss who turned heads with a breakthrough weekend aboard the PTR Triumph.

Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) won the first ever Balaton WorldSSP race by a full 3.834 seconds, from the original front-runner in the 18-lap competition, Can Öncü (Yamaha bLU cRU Evan Bros Racing). The rider closest to Manzi in the championship is Öncü, but he is now 59 points behind his rival with four more rounds to go in the season.

Top WorldSSP runner and front row starter after Superpole qualifying, Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Ducati), was disqualified from Superpole (with too high a throttle opening limit, it seems) and had to start Race One from the back of the grid.

This freed up a place for Oli Bayliss (PTR Triumph Factory Racing) to take over the third place grid spot.

In Race 1, Bo Bendsneyder (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) went from pole to an eventual third position. His team-mate Filippo Farioli (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was fifth across the line but was awarded fourth place in the final results as Roberto Garcia (GMT94-Yamaha) barged him out of the way in one corner, causing him to nearly fall – leaving Farioli one place back in fifth for his transgression.

Simon Jespersen (Ecosantagata Althea Racing Team Ducati) had a strong ride to sixth, ten seconds down on the winner Manzi, while Masia recovered from his back row start to finish seventh. Oli Bayliss, riding in sixth place for a time, lost two places late on in the race, and finished eighth.

Philipp Öttl (Feel Racing WorldSSP Team Ducati) and Xavi Cardelus (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Ducati) completed the top ten in the first race. Lucas Mahias (GMT94-Yamaha) crashed out early and Tom Booth-Amos (PTR Triumph Factory Racing) also crashed out of the race. He is still third overall, but 87 points from Manzi.

Manzi also took the Race 2 victory, this time in a controlled fashion from the suddenly competitive Danish rider, Simon Jespersen (Ecosantagata Althea Racing Team Ducati).

The Ten Kate Racing Yamaha has not quite had it all his own way so far in 2025 but he is is now showing the kind of form and fightback in races that even his closest rivals and four other fellow race winners cannot match in terms of repeating pace or consistency.  He beat the determined Dane by almost two seconds after 18 laps of the tight and twisty circuit in Hungary.

He now has seven race win on his 2025 service record, and after a shaky couple of races in Most and Misano (despite a race win in the latter) he has won three of the last four, and four of the last six races.

The closest challenger to Manzi’s overall brilliance is still five-times 2025 race winner Can Öncü (Yamaha bLU cRU Evan Bros Racing), but in Race Two he had his hands very full on the final few laps holding off the determined Oli Bayliss (PTR Triumph Factory Racing).

With a Race One front row start being translated into a Race Two second row start on Sunday, Bayliss grabbed the opportunities of starting among the leaders particularly well in Race Two.

He maybe just ran out of one more chance to pass the equally determined Öncü, and finished fourth. This was Oli’s career best and he really had podium pace for the first time since he joined the Triumph set-up this year.

Fifth was Valentin Debise (Renzi Corse Ducati), who closed up to the last potential podium place until the final couple of laps.

Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Ducati) was sixth, the now potent Roberto Garcia (GMT94-Yamaha) seventh and Andorran rider Xavi Cardelus (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Ducati) was eighth – over ten seconds back from Manzi’s win at the super-tight 4.075km Balaton Park circuit.

Mattia Casadei (Motozoo ME air racing MV Agusta) was ninth and the other rider on the Street triple RS765, while Tom Booth-Amos battled through a surprisingly tricky weekend to finish tenth.

In the championship, with four rounds and eight individual races left to go after the long summer break, Manzi has 294 points to Öncü’s 235. Way more than two race wins. Masia moved into third place at Balaton, with 191 points and Booth-Amos is fourth with 188.

Reflecting on the weekend Oli said, “Bit of a strange race on Saturday. P8, but it should’ve really been P6. With two laps to go I had a big high side and lost two positions. At the start of the race I missed a little bit of the pace but after a lap or so I got into a rhythm and held the gap for most of the race. I am pretty happy with Sunday’s race. I rode my hardest but it just wasn’t enough. We were so close to the podium and ended up in a nice battle. This was a really important weekend as we had speed in Donington but a crash meant we couldn’t show our potential.”

Luke did not have the easiest of weekends, qualifying 29th and then scoring 19th position in Race One. He had tech issues in Race Two, entering and then exiting pitlane and finishing 24th and last, having only done 16 laps, not 18. “Honestly, a disappointing weekend,” said Luke. “We had quite a few technical problems over the weekend which stopped a lot of track time and ended our race too early. It is just disappointing. I really tried my best this weekend and felt I had made good steps, but realistically, with the lack of track time before the race it was always going to be difficult. Overall, disappointed, but we have got some time now to regroup before Magny Cours.”

2025 HUNGARY WORLDSSP RACE 1

2025 Hungary WorldSSP Race 2

2025 WorldSSP Championship Standings