Razgatlioglu comes out on top of a race long battle

With high track temperatures of almost 50°C the Misano World Circuit -Marco Simoncelli was always going to produce a challenging race for the WorldSBK field

Race 1 Highlights

A post Superpole penalty for slow riding for Nicolo Bulega dropped the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider from pole position to fourth on the grid. The championship leader led the first four laps of the race but eventually had to settle for 20 points in second position. He trailed Toprak Razgatlioglu by 1.045s at the end of 21 laps

Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) made a mistake on Lap 1 at Turn 8 and ran off track. Having started from pole position he dropped to third position at the end of the lap. Within a lap he took advantage of a crash from Axel Bassani at Turn 6 and then hunted down Bulega. The Ducati rider ran wide into Turn 9 and opened a door for Razgatlioglu to take the lead before quarter distance

A race long battle saw Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) hold off Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) for the final step on the podium. At one point Lowes attacked into Turn 2 to take the position but within a few corners Petrucci was back through with Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) finishing fifth for his best result since his Dutch Round victory

From the fourth row of the grid Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) made progress but a mistake at Turn 8, when he ran wide attacking Sam Lowes, cost him the chance to fight for the podium. Bautista finished the race in seventh but a post race penalty for Lowes, for exceeding track limits, dropped the ELF Marc VDS Racing Team rider to seventh positionChampionship Highlights

Bulega currently holds a 26 points advantage over Razgatlioglu

BMW clawed back five points to Ducati in the Manufacturers’ Standings

P1 - Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team)
“This wasn’t an easy race but I pushed hard on every lap. I know Bulega and Ducati were going to be strong at this track and with the hot conditions it wasn’t easy for anyone to ride. During the last few laps I felt a lot of chatter on the bike but I just stayed focused. This race was very important for me and for the championship. We’re still fighting for the title in WorldSBK and I’m happy to win Race 1 but we still have two more races this weekend.”

P2 – Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“Honestly, I didn’t have a great feeling with the bike. With the hot track temperature I was only at 90%. If you want to try and beat Toprak you need to be at 100%. We’ll try to improve the feeling for tomorrow. I didn’t agree with the penalty. After Turn 10, I looked behind and saw Petrucci coming, so I started to push again to avoid disturbing him. I tried to explain this, and even Danilo told me he wasn’t angry with me, so it’s okay. I’ll just focus on doing my best anyway.”

P3 – Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team)
“This was really, really tough. I started from the third row and at one point I took a big hit to my arm, I don’t even know who it was, but I managed to get up to third position and after that I tried to push. Honestly, I wasn’t even able to push that hard because I was focused on managing rear traction. It was a tough race because you had to keep front grip for the race. Alex did a great job and he tried to overtake me. I thought I might still have a bit of margin. It was tough and I was just waiting for that last lap like it was my birthday!”