MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

A 20ºC morning's racing would be missing Remy Gardner as he fractured his wrist in yesterday's race, likely ending his season. The championship could be decided today, but the chances of this happening are very unlikely. The sky was blue, the track was dry and ten laps of Estoril were on the cards.

Toprak Razgatlioglu, leading the championship by forty four points, once again used a harder tyre, hoping the bike gets better towards the end of the short race, much like yesterday on a compressed schedule. Razgatlioglu led Petrucci and Locatelli into turn one with Jonathan Rea and Sam Lowes ahead of Nicolo Bulega. Petrucci pushed Razgatlioglu aside into a chicane and both Yahamas behind took advantage of his being off line and pushed him back to fourth place.

Lap two, Razgatlioglu took two places back down the straight and into turn one, and passed Petrucci to start lap three in the lead with a fastest lap of 1'37.263.

Nicolo Bulega worked his way through on lap two and passed Petrucci then Locatelli to take up second place just over half a second from razgatlioglu and a fastest lap of 1'36.630 on lap three put him under half a second off the lead.

Meanwhile, Alvaro Bautista was carving through the pack, passing Rea for sixth place at the start of lap four and Xavi Vierge for fifth, lining up Petrucci for lap five. Bulega set a fastest lap again, four tenths off Razgatlioglu, with a 1'36.437.

Jonathan Rea was forced aside by Alex Lowes to lose the sixth place he'd taken off Vierge.

At half race distance, Toprak Razgatlioglu had Nicolo Bulega on his tail with Andrea Locatelli, Danilo Petrucci and Alvaro Bautista over a second further back. Alex Lowes had Xavi Vierge and Jonathan Rea taking lumps out of each other behind him, only for Rea to crash out chasing Vierge in turn ten.

Razgatlioglu started the second half of the race with a 1'36.221 fastest lap as his tyres activated. Bulega struck back a lap later, but Razgatlioglu remained very much in control. Behind the championship rivals, Locatelli, Bautista and Petrucci were two and a half seconds off the leaders. Two laps to go, Bulega set a 1'36.221 to close to within three tenths of a second at the start of lap nine of ten. Bautista powered past Locatelli to lead over the line and hold third place into turn one.

Razgatlioglu skipped the rear into corners, lifting it a foot off the ground and giving Bulega a view of the underside of his bike. Last lap, Bulega crossed the line a tenths of a second behind Razgatlioglu with the fight for the last step of the podium almost four seconds behind them.

Bulega ran out of corners to pass Razgatlioglu and spent the last of his tyres to take a fast exit through the corner, and line up his Ducati alongside the BMW to have a drag race to the line.

Nicolo Bulega crossed the line to Razgatlioglu's right three thousandths ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu and four and a half seconds ahead of Alvaro Bautista. Andrea Locatelli was clear in front and behind by over a second with Danilo Petrucci beating Alex Lowes to fifth place by three tenths of a second.

Alvaro Bautista turned a fourth row start into a podium, carving through strong riders for several laps, but he couldn't match the pace of the leaders. Nicolo Bulega's strong performance, taking the fight to Toprak Razgatlioglu for the last half of the race, trading fastest laps back and forth, kept his slim championship hopes alive. Razgatlioglu was surprised that Bulega's Q tyre still had plenty of grip, and he needs to win race two with Bulega scoring four points or fewer to take the title today.

Bulega's win over Razgatlioglu, 0.003 seconds, is the closest recorded victory in Superbike history.

Results: