Balaton Race 1: Bulega, no one behind—he’s in a league of his own in Superbike

Nicolò Bulega steamrolled everyone once again. On the eve he claimed that Balaton Park wasn’t his track, but without Toprak Razgatlioglu in the mix, Hungary has become his backyard too. The others are light-years behind, even his rival teammate Iker Lecuona evaporated at the crucial moment. In here, Bulega is playing a different sport.

Friday had stoked a bit of anticipation, with the Spanish wingman just a hair faster than the dominator. But day two immediately took a different turn: Lecuona lost the plot in qualifying, getting stuck in fifth and also receiving a three-place grid penalty for impeding other riders. Beating Bulega would have been incredibly tough even starting alongside him; from the third row it’s downright impossible. By the time Lecuona carved through the pack, the rival who’d launched like a rocket was already 4.5 seconds ahead. The race was over at Turn 1. He was strong in the second half, but a seventh consecutive second place was the best he could do.

Putting Bulega on a ’27 MotoGP bike is imperative to avoid Superbike completely losing its flavor. Last year he had a worthy rival in Toprak; now he doesn’t. The World Championship standings are the ultimate summation in racing, but here nobody’s even looking at them anymore: we’re not even a quarter of the way through and the lead is colossal: +74 points over Lecuona, with everyone else already dropped by the wayside.

With Razgatlioglu, the German juggernaut had swept the board here; this time they had to settle for Miguel Oliveira’s third-place podium, as he finished the 21 laps more than ten seconds behind the winner. There are smiles at BMW, but the post-Toprak era has been muted so far. With the other M1000RR, Danilo Petrucci, starting mid-pack with a sore left wrist, finished on the fringes of the points (thirteenth). The rest we saw were fleeting flashes, like Alberto Surra’s fiery start. The newcomer, on the Motocorsa Ducati, led for two laps, but then went backwards. Lorenzo Baldassarri crashed: rider OK, Ducati almost wrecked.

The fourth Superbike round in Hungary isn’t drawing massive crowds; the stands at Balaton Park are sparse. A pity, because the show is worth it, and Sunday, May 3 will bring a double bill: at 11:00 the Superpole Race will kick off, with the same starting grid as Race 1 and ten laps to cover. At 15:30 comes the final showdown, with the first three rows determined by the Sprint race finishing order. The race distance will be 21 laps.

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