Bulega Eases To Race One Win, Razgatlioglu holds off late charge from Bautista
Any hopes his rivals may have had that Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) would not be quite as fast in a real race as he had been in pre-season testing and Superpole qualifying disappeared within two laps, as Bulega broke the entire field very early on and kept on building his advantage all the way to the flag.
The only time he was not in the lead across the stripe over 20-laps was when the mandatory tyre changes happened at mid-race distance.
Bulega was an early pit entrant for new tyres, leaving eventual second place race Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) to stay out, with Scott Redding (MGM BONOVO Racing Ducati) a shadow for a time. Redding would end up fifth, but 40-year-old double champion Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was the final podium finisher in third place.
Bulega eased up near the end, reducing a six second penultimate lap advantage to 4.811, but it was still a transcendent performance from the tall Italian.
Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team Ducati) was fourth, the aforementioned Redding fifth, and early podium runner Andrea Iannone (Team Pata GoEleven Ducati) dropping back then getting going again in a disturbed race for him, to round out the top six.
With top Yamaha rider Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) in a solid seventh, 8.892 seconds behind the winner, the latest bimota WorldSBK return was rewarded with eighth place for Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) – despite a small penalty for leaving pitlane too early – and ninth place for his team-mate Axel Bassani. Top Honda rider was Xavi Vierge (Honda HRC) in 11th.
After Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) had fallen his bike had caused a worrying moment, after leaving blue smokescreen out of the scary-fast last corner before Gardner could pull off the track surface. Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) ran off track, rejoined the race in last position, and was later forced to retire. Only 16 riders finished a race that was held in air temperates of 36°C and track temperatures of 55°C.
Superpole Race and Race Two will be held on Sunday at PI.
|
Pos
|
Rider
|
Team
|
Gap
|
Fast Lap
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
N. BULEGA
|
Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
|
–
|
1’29.345
|
|
2
|
T. RAZGATLIOGLU
|
ROKiT BMW Motorrad
|
4.811
|
1’30.053
|
|
3
|
A. BAUTISTA
|
Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
|
5.108
|
1’29.933
|
|
4
|
D. PETRUCCI
|
Barni Spark Racing Team
|
6.813
|
1’30.069
|
|
5
|
S. REDDING
|
MGM BONOVO Racing
|
6.986
|
1’30.102
|
|
6
|
A. IANNONE
|
Team Pata Go Eleven
|
7.548
|
1’30.051
|
|
7
|
A. LOCATELLI
|
Pata Maxus Yamaha
|
8.892
|
1’30.295
|
|
8
|
A. LOWES
|
bimota by Kawasaki Racing
|
9.588
|
1’30.026
|
|
9
|
A. BASSANI
|
bimota by Kawasaki Racing
|
11.035
|
1’30.205
|
|
10
|
S. LOWES
|
ELF Marc VDS Racing
|
13.429
|
1’29.651
|
|
11
|
X. VIERGE
|
Honda HRC
|
15.661
|
1’30.670
|
|
12
|
D. AEGERTER
|
GYTR GRT Yamaha
|
18.039
|
1’30.687
|
|
13
|
R. VICKERS
|
Motocorsa Racing
|
29.734
|
1’31.187
|
|
14
|
T. NAGASHIMA
|
Honda HRC
|
42.501
|
1’31.205
|
|
15
|
B. SOFUOGLU
|
Yamaha Motoxracing
|
42.730
|
1’31.328
|
|
16
|
T. MACKENZIE
|
PETRONAS MIE Honda
|
55.663
|
1’32.001
|
|
RET
|
R. GARDNER
|
GYTR GRT Yamaha
|
9 Laps Down
|
1’31.342
|
|
RET
|
M. VAN DER MARK
|
ROKiT BMW Motorrad
|
12 Laps Down
|
1’30.453
|
|
RET
|
G. GERLOFF
|
Kawasaki WorldSBK
|
14 Laps Down
|
1’30.920
|
|
RET
|
T. RABAT
|
Yamaha Motoxracing
|
15 Laps Down
|
1’31.780
|
|
RET
|
Y. MONTELLA
|
Barni Spark Racing Team
|
19 Laps Down
|
