SBK Balaton: Did you see that, Lecuona? Bulega beats you in the Sprint as well

"In the race I was faster," Iker Lecuona pointed out at the end of Race 1. Hinting that without the misadventures in qualifying, starting further up, Nicolò Bulega would have had no chance. Instead, the dominant rider reaffirmed his superiority in the Superpole Race as well.

Champions draw inspiration from certain public statements by the rival of the moment. In the mere eight laps of the Sprint, with two starts and shortened to just eight laps due to the Locatelli–Oliveira incident at the first start, Lecuona got away well, latching onto the wheel of his teammate-rival after just three corners. It was the ideal position to launch the attack. But Bulega had more, and by imposing an unsustainable pace on the race he celebrated his eleventh consecutive win since the start of the championship, his fifteenth overall: Alvaro Bautista’s 2019 record is equaled.

Even over the short distance there’s nothing to be done against the Ducatis. They were six in single file, with season standout Lorenzo Baldassarri rewarded with a third place of great significance. The Go Eleven protégé had flown off at 200 km/h on Saturday, destroying the Panigale V4 R. Balda finished ahead of Alvaro Bautista, a three-time World Champion, and the charging Yari Montella and the increasingly surprising Alberto Surra.

The first start was very turbulent. In turn one Yari Montella came in too fast, forcing Nicolò Bulega to widen his line and slot back into the pack only in sixth. At turn five Andrea Locatelli, having run a bit wide, rejoined the racing line, hitting Sam Lowes and crashing. The out-of-control Yamaha took down the BMW of the blameless Miguel Oliveira, who was left motionless in the middle of the track. After receiving the necessary assistance, the Portuguese rider, always conscious, was taken to the medical center. The race was immediately stopped to provide aid to the injured rider. Locatelli made it back to the box on his own bike, almost unscathed. However, the action was deemed sanctionable by Race Direction: two long laps to be served at the restart of this same race.

In the ten-lap Superpole Race, no one gambled on the SCQ, the qualifying tire. The entire grid started with the exact same choice as Race 1, namely the SC1 front and SCX (super soft) rear. It will surely be the same configuration for Race 2, which will start at 3:30 PM, with 21 laps to be completed.