Nicolo Bulega on Toprak Razgatlioglu Italian WorldSBK battle: “His plan was to stop me”

The Italian WorldSBK appeared to be delivering a classic race in Race 1 of the 2025 edition of the round held at Cremona Circuit, but once Nicolo Bulega was able to impose his pace from the front his early battle with Toprak Razgatlioglu was over.

Bulega started from pole position and made the holeshot into turn one, but Razgatlioglu was aware of the danger of the Italian’s pace and passed him into the final corner on the opening lap.

From there, Bulega tried on multiple occasions to regain the lead, but until lap five the BMW rider was able to retaliate. Only on lap six was Bulega able to make a pass stick on Razgatlioglu, and from there he was eventually able to make his pace count and score a fifth victory of the season by 2.8 seconds.

Reflecting on the early battle with Razgatlioglu, Bulega said that the key to eventually coming out on top against the reigning champion was staying calm.

“Toprak [Razgatlioglu] is always very aggressive,” Bulega told WorldSBK.com after Race 2.

“His plan was to try to stop me because my pace was very good.

“I was just staying calm and knowing that if I could overtake him, when he would be behind me, I’d have something more.

“When I overtook him, I tried to do my pace and my plan worked well.”

Bulega added that this victory was of extra importance after his double-DNF on Sunday at Assen.

“After Assen, I needed a win and to win here in Italy is incredible, especially here at Cremona,” he said.

“I never have a lot of fun riding here because this track, for me, is very difficult.

“It’s incredible to win here. It means we made a step from last year and we can fight in every race.”

Bulega’s victory means he is now 26 points clear of Razgatlioglu in the World Superbike riders’ standings ahead of Sunday’s two races.