WSBK Superbike Estoril Race 1: Toprak Razgatlioglu eliminates Nicolo Bulega, will this race be decisive?

Toprak Razgatlioglu won Race 1 of the Superbike World Championship in Estoril, Portugal

De Paul Gozzi / Corsedimoto.com

Nicholas Bulega fights but it is not enough: Toprak Razgatlioglu wins Race 1 at Estoril and moves even closer to his third Superbike world title, the second in a row with BMW. The 2026 MotoGP rider will welcome a phenomenal rider, at least in these latitudes: if Yamaha provides him with a bike that lives up to expectations, even "the twenty fastest riders on the planet" will no longer be able to sleep peacefully.

Bulega tries his luck, but says goodbye to his dreams
Toprak Razgatlioglu has reached the 78-race mark, including 20 wins this exceptional season. Some victories are more special than others, like this one: he now has a 41-point lead in a world championship that has been taking shape for months. Barring anything unexpected, of course: there are five races left, but Ducati's hopes are dashed. The BMW ace was formidable in the first four laps when, after a lackluster start (fourth in the early skirmishes), he widened the gap, taking a two-second lead over his rival. Nicolo Bulega pushed very hard in the central phase, coming back to within seven tenths, but when Toprak sensed danger, it didn't take him long to restore the gap. Unbeatable.

Ducati plays the tire card
Nicholas Bulega et Alvaro Bautista started with the E0672 front tire, the new product introduced by Pirelli during this round. Toprak Razgatlioglu had opted for the hard tire (SC2), a proven choice for the BMW ace who wants to have a lot of downforce on the front. But after the interruption due to an accident, Toprak Razgatlioglu changed its mind, opting for the same solution as the Ducatists. At the rear, everyone preferred the E0126, the super-soft tire that this year helped significantly improve the performance of the Superbikes. In the end, this change of heart didn't change the situation.

Crash at first start, drivers unharmed
Race 1 was interrupted due to a mass crash in the first corner, caused by Axel Bassani and involving Bahattin Sofuoglu, Michael van der Mark and Testuta NagashimaAt that point, Bulega was ahead of Toprak, but the red flag forced them to pit. The race resumed a quarter of an hour later with the distance shortened by one lap, for a total of twenty laps.

Behind the two usual ones, there is emptiness
In these circumstances, Razgatlioglu and Bulega also opened up a significant gap. Alvaro Bautista, third, took more than fourteen seconds, or 7 to 8 tenths per lap. It's a huge gap: the Superbike of this era is subject to regulations that, in theory, should allow many to be protagonists. Fortunately, in motorcycling, the rider remains the fundamental element. Toprak and Nicolò are two big guys, impossible to weigh them down like they did with Bautista. Perhaps they will invent a handicap for tall riders...

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Paul Gozzi

Classification credit: WorldSBK.com