Bulega Takes The Triple As Ducati Lock Out Top 6 Positions
Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was the winner of his third straight WorldSBK race at Phillip Island and he was the gilded point of a long Ducati spear that saw a complete domination of the top six places. That sextet of leading V4-R riders finishing within 10.097 seconds of each other.
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was the runner-up in the race and joined his tall team-mate to wave their respective national lags for a celebration photo at T4 on the slow-down lap.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) had an eventful race, starting well down because of his Superpole Race misfortunes, and fighting his way back into contention, too hard at times.
He pinged Petrucci so hard when passing that even his visual apology was ignored by the authorities and he was penalised to drop one position. He dropped two as Sam Lowes also went past – but then Toprak would have to retire with a technical problem.
Andrea Iannone (Team Pata GoEleven Ducati) placed third, and Scott Redding (MGM BONOVO Racing Ducati) fourth, after a near-three-second penalty was applied for leaving pitlane too early.
Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team Ducati) and Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team Ducati) were the final member’s of Ducati’s super six at the very top of the classification, heading up a loose group six riders.
Top Yamaha rider was Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) in seventh, Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) was eighth, rookie rider Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team Ducati) was ninth and the top ten was completed by the second bimota of Axel Bassani.
Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) had a very high speed fall to round out a tough weekend with a no-score. Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) got points on the board for 13th, as he just won a drag race with top BMW finisher, Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team).
In the championship standings, Bulega has a perfect total of 62 points, with Bautista on 36 and Iannone on 35.
Next round, Portimao, at the end of March.
World Superbike Race 2
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Bike | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | N. Bulega | ITA | DUC | — |
| 2 | A. Bautista | ESP | DUC | 2.603 |
| 3 | A. Iannone | ITA | DUC | 3.98 |
| 4 | S. Redding | GBR | DUC | 8.043 |
| 5 | D. Petrucci | ITA | DUC | 10.009 |
| 6 | S. Lowes | GBR | DUC | 10.097 |
| 7 | A. Locatelli | ITA | YAM | 11.083 |
| 8 | A. Lowes | GBR | BIM | 11.18 |
| 9 | Y. Montella | ITA | DUC | 11.202 |
| 10 | A. Bassani | ITA | BIM | 11.918 |
| 11 | X. Vierge | ESP | HON | 18.472 |
| 12 | D. Aegerter | SUI | YAM | 18.507 |
| 13 | G. Gerloff | USA | KAW | 25.853 |
| 14 | M. Van Der Mark | NED | BMW | 25.891 |
| 15 | R. Vickers | GBR | DUC | 29.402 |
| 16 | B. Sofuoglu | TUR | YAM | 41.81 |
| 17 | T. Rabat | ESP | YAM | 43.805 |
| 18 | T. Nagashima | JPN | HON | 51.209 |
| RET | R. Gardner | AUS | YAM | 4 Laps |
| RET | T. Razgatlıoğlu | TUR | BMW | 10 Laps |
| RET | T. Mackenzie | GBR | HON | 14 Laps |
