WorldSBK: The sun shone on Ducati at their home round with Nicolo Bulega delivering Aruba.it Racing – Ducati their 19th win of the season from pole position.
The Italian refused to yield his vice like grip on WorldSBK as he led every lap of 21 at Misano World Circuit – Marco Simoncelli.
Race 1 Highlights
Starting from pole position Bulega lost the lead at the start when his teammate, Iker Lecuona, swept past him through the slow right hander of Turn 2. Bulega quickly made amends by outbraking his rival at Turn 8. The slow right hander, taken at 75 km/h, is preceded by a long braking zone where Bulega had edged past Lecuona. From that point onwards he opened a gap of over six seconds. His perfect day, which was his first victory at his home circuit, was capped off by breaking the lap record on Lap 5.
Lecuona followed his teammate home but pushed hard. This was shown when he ran off track at Turn 12 on Lap 9 but otherwise it was a solid performance with a comfortable margin to Yari Montella in third position. Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) guaranteed a podium lockout for Ducati Panigale V4R riders.
Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes both finished inside the top five aboard their bimota KB998 Rimini machines. The duo traded places at one third distance before Bassani, from seventh on the grid, settled the duel in his favour.
Miguel Oliviera (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) returned to racing action after an injury lay off. The Portuguese rider ended the day with an eighth place finish having been able to take advantage of crashes for Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team Goeleven) and Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) in the early stages of the race. Both riders crashed at Turn 5 while Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) also suffered a late race crash.
Andrea Locatelli celebrated his 200th start in WorldSBK by leading home the Yamaha challenge in seventh position while rookie Stefano Manzi (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) matched his season-best finish of tenth position.
P1 – Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“Today was incredible and I’m really happy. We had a very good pace in the race and I added another lap record to my collection during the Superpole session. It’s been a fantastic day. I really wanted to win here in Italy because I had never won here in WorldSBK, and just one race here in WorldSSP. To do it in front of all my fans and supporters is incredible. It’s special to have them here in Italy and I want to dedicate this win to all of them. Winning on an Italian bike with an Italian team in Italy makes it even more special.”
P2 – Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“I missed a little bit in terms of lap time. My best lap was still two tenths under Nicolo’s lap record from last year. During the race after five laps I realised it wasn’t my day. I struggled because I don’t have the extra speed that Nicolo has. I’m frustrated with my performance during the race so after lap five I started to back off a little bit. The bike and the team have the potential but it’s down to me. I need to understand what I need to do and where I need to improve.”
P3 – Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team)
“It has been a solid weekend so far. We needed a result like this after Aragon and to take a podium in Misano in front of my family and friends is really nice. I pushed from the beginning to the end of the race but we need to analyse everything and try to improve because tomorrow is another day. We still have two races in what will probably be even hotter conditions. We need to improve my feeling with the bike because I struggled a bit with the front tyre in the closing stages.”
Modern Classic Motorcycle News - Kindle Edition
Race 1 Results
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2. Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +6.117s
3. Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) +13.823s
4. Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +17.626s
5. Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +20.746s
6. Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) +24.702s
Fastest lap: Nicolo Bulega (Ducati) – 1’32.552, new lap record
Superpole Highlights
Bulega topped the times in the 15 minute Tissot Superpole session to claim his seventh pole position of the campaign. The championship leader maintained his perfect qualifying from the season with a new lap record of the Misano Circuit Sic 58 with a time of 1’31.343s.
Lecuona qualified second for his fifth front row of the season while Alex Lowes celebrated news of his contract extension with his first row start of the season for bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team.
The session saw an early Turn 13 crash for Garrett Gerloff with the Kawasaki WorldSBK Team rider unable to set a laptime. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) also crashed in midway through the session and the British rider qualified tenth fastest. Tommy Bridewell (Superbike Advocates) crashed at Turn 2 just moments after setting the ninth fastest time. The rookie has back to back starts from the third row.
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’31.343s
2. Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.227s
3. Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +0.657s
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