SBK Misano: Alberto Surra, the long road and a kid's dream

Superbike has become Bulega-dependent: he always wins, everyone talks about him. A pity, because in the mix there’s a rookie who, at just 22, is growing very well: Alberto Surra.

After a lot of wandering between different championships and categories, last year Surra made a strong impression in the seven Supersport races he contested. His approach to the production-derived paddock was excellent, so doors swung wide open at the Motocorsa team, the same outfit that launched Axel Bassani years ago. The Venetian rider also arrived without a prestigious track record; in three years with the Lecco-based squad he did wonderful things and is now a top professional whom Bimota has kept close even through 2027.

Alberto Surra has all the qualities to follow the same path. He’s been competitive since the very first race, and his single-lap pace has been at an excellent level for some time. He’s strong in qualifying, to the point that he’s already tasted the front row. Until now, consistency in race trim had been lacking, between explosive starts and losing positions at the end. At Misano, in hot track conditions, he signed off a sixth place full of promise. But above all, he closed the gap to the front. The deficit still seems substantial (24 seconds behind Bulega), but we’re more or less at the level of the best satellite riders. “It’ll take two years for the podium” is the analysis of Lorenzo Mauri, former Superbike rider and owner of Motocorsa. Maybe even less, given the current situation.

Lorenzo Mauri is cherishing the emerging rider of the moment. “I’m really thrilled about the sixth place in race 1 and the second spot among the independent teams. The gap to the leaders is shrinking, which means we’re continuing to grow. We still need to work on the third sector and we’ve been doing so for a while, both in testing and together with the team these days. The crew chief, the engineer, and the rider are working very hard to find something that allows us to improve further in T3. It’s still a huge satisfaction, both for the sixth place achieved in qualifying and for the one obtained in the race.

Meanwhile, the track sings the same old tune with Nicolò Bulega blazing fast in the warm-up as well. In the ten-minute session he managed to drop to 1'32"098, seven tenths better than his garage-mate Iker Lecuona. Today’s two battles have an even more obvious favorite than usual: at Misano Bulegass had never won, but this time he wants to feast. The third time of Axel Bassani looks promising, as shown in the photo above.

Photo: Mauro Stanzani

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