Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was untouchable in Oz as he completed his first ever hat-trick. He won with a very comfortable 2.6s margin, cruising past the checkered flag. While Bulega was running away with P1, not all the grid enjoyed such a carefree race, 2024 Riders’ Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) appeared to struggle on the track from lights out, being applied a penalty for irresponsible driving from an aggressive overtake on Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team).

BULEGA BURNS COMPETITION: Comfortable P1 for Bulega, P2 for Bautista and P3 for Iannone

Nicolo Bulega was metronomic in his efficiency down under in the Australian Round, testing earlier in the week told a story that he would be a strong contender, however no one on the grid could handle the speeds he would bring to the season-opening races. He claimed his career-first hat trick with a Race 2 P1, and speeds like these have to be a concern for the grid’s other riders as they strive to keep up. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) had a very strong showing in Race 2, fighting his way back from a P11 start position after a poor result in the Tissot Superpole Race after running off track. Andrea Iannone (Team Pata Go Eleven) joined the Ducati Factory riders in the rostrum, having started second on the grid, he weathered the storm of other independent riders hot on his tail to land his second podium of the weekend.

INDEPENDENT DOGFIGHT: Redding, Petrucci, Sam Lowes battle for P4

Scott Redding (MGM Bonovo Racing) had another day of near-constant action, fighting tooth and nail with a swarm of other riders, however particularly with Danilo Petrucci. The 2024 Top Independent rider and Redding battled throughout the second half of the race after the Pit Intervention, exchanging overtakes. In the end, Petrucci came in in P5 behind Redding, however this battle of the Independent Riders will be one to watch this season. Matching his career best-ever result, Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) continued his strong form with a P6 result after notching his career-best P5 in the Tissot Superpole Race. He nearly doubled up on the career result, as he was only 0.088s behind P5.

LOKA TOP YAMAHA: Both Bimota’s top 10, Montella top rookie

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) had another strong appearance at Phillip Island, duplicating his P7 result from Race 1. Less than a second behind, Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) brought up the front of the Bimota pairing in P8, narrowly beating out P9 finisher Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) by a mere 0.022s. Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) finished the race only two places behind teammate Alex Lowes, continuing the trend of both Bimotas finishing with similar times.

VIERGE P11, AEGERTER CLOSE BEHIND: Gerloff, van der Mark, Vickers all take home points

Xavi Vierge (Honda HRC) continues to score points as the top Honda rider as Iker Lecuona (Honda HRC) heals up from his broken foot. His P11 finish provides much-needed points to his team as replacement rider Tetsuta Nagashima (Honda HRC) finishes P18. Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team finished P12, just 0.035 seconds behind Vierge. The grid’s only Kawasaki rider, Garett Gerloff (Kawasaki Racing Team) finished P13, a finish to improve upon, however a welcome step up from the DNF he scored after a crash with Nagashima ended his Race 1 early. Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad Racing Team) narrowly missed out on P13 by only 0.038s, taking home P14 instead. Having briefly led the race during other riders’ pit time, Ryan Vickers (Motocorsa Racing) was the final point-scoring rider to finish the race in P15. Fellow rookie, Bahattin Sofuoglu (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) was the next to finish in P16, just shy of two seconds ahead of his teammate, Spanish rider Tito Rabat in P17. Rounding out the riders who finished the race, Tetsuta Nagashima finished in 18^th place for team Honda HRC.

TOPRAK ENDS EARLY: A mechanical issue forces defending champion to retire

Toprak Razgatlioglu was pushing hard to try to get the most out of his new M 1000 RR, at times this weekend he seemed frustrated with his platform’s performance. When he ran wide trying to enter a corner in Lap 12, he made his second trip to the pits in what would be his final moments on the bike of the race as the team decided to retire from there. Tarran Mackenzie (PETRONAS MIE Honda Racing Team) was the first rider to retire after a crash in Turn 6. Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) unfortunately crashed with only four laps to go exiting the Gardner Straight, named after his father Wayne Gardner.

The top six from the WorldSBK Race 2: Full results here!

1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)

 2. Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +2.603s

 3. Andrea Iannone (Team Pata Go Eleven) +3.980s

 4. Scott Redding (MGM BONOVO Racing) +8.043s

 5. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +10.009s

 6. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +10.097s

Championship Standings:

1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 62 points

 2. Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 36

 3. Andrea Iannone (Team Pata Go Eleven) 35

 4. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) 31

 5. Scott Redding (MGM BONOVO Racing) 30

 6. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) 22

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