Nicolò Bulega eats them for breakfast, a huge sprint victory

Ten flat-out laps, three overtakes, a few risks in the drizzle but the same verdict: Nicolò Bulega at Phillip Island devours the Superpole Race as well.

That’s now twenty-two career triumphs for the Ducati rider, drawing level with Marco Melandri in the ranking of the most successful Italians in Superbike. On the Australian rollercoaster, Bulega has now won five races in a row—six wins in eight outings since moving up to the top class. Hats off to this young man’s class.

Over the sprint distance, the Championship rediscovered some of the pathos that Bulega’s crushing dominance had completely erased. In Race 1 he rocketed off, mercilessly escaping. This time, however, he started very cautiously on a track altered by the changing weather. With the identical tire choice as the day before, the dominator took a lap to tame the prickly Sam Lowes, then pounced on Yari Montella, who had launched into the lead off the line. A butter-smooth pass in the downhill hairpin, and off he went.

It was only the third lap and the thrills weren’t over. Because as soon as Bulega hit the front, the white flag came out to signal raindrops around the circuit. A fiery Axel Bassani put the Bimota KR998 on the tail of the Ducati, but as soon as Nicolò realized there was nothing to fear—since the asphalt wasn’t getting wet—he flipped the turbo back on and shut it down. Bassani lost ground, but brought home the first podium for the Rimini brand, which also celebrated Alex Lowes’ third place. Right now, the small Rimini marque, powered and funded by Kawasaki, is the only one holding its own.

The Campanian rider from the Barni team, a splendid second in Race 1, spent his first three laps leading Superbike but, once he suffered Bulega’s relentless attack, he became a bit disjointed when the droplets hit the windscreen. He ran wide at Turn 1 in the closing stages and, after regaining his rhythm, couldn’t shake off Alex Lowes’ Bimota. Fourth place isn’t a defeat—if anything, it further embellishes a top-rider weekend. In the Sprint, a solid performance from Garrett Gerloff’s new Kawasaki, sixth: Phillip Island confirms itself as a friend of the Akashi brand, which placed three engines in the top six. A breath of fresh air as well for Alvaro Bautista, seventh after Saturday’s crash.

Miguel Oliveira had mounted an even better comeback than on Saturday (eighth), but the M1000RR suffered a technical issue on the very last lap, nullifying the effort. At that point the Portuguese rider had already dispatched Danilo Petrucci, who still can’t find his footing: only tenth, over ten seconds off the winner. The Umbrian rider must hope the third and final showdown is run in the wet, to try to make sense of BMW’s first outing in the post-Toprak Razgatlioglu era.

Not even the Superpole Race brought calm back to the blue box. Xavi Vierge didn’t start due to an issue with the R1 on the grid. Andrea Locatelli, meanwhile, continues to flounder at the back, unable to solve the setup problems he’s complained about since early-week testing. The Bergamo native was even beaten by rookie Stefano Manzi, but we’re talking about backmarker positions. What’s going on at Yamaha?