2025 Phillip Island World Superbike Race Two Result: Ups And Downs

By Jared Earle |

The last race of the weekend was 22ºC and the attendance was around 49,500. There would once again be a pit stop for fresh tyres, with an eleven lap limit in play.

Nicolo Bulega led Andrea Iannone and Scott Redding into turn one. A lap later, no change at the top, with Danilo Petrucci, Andrea Locatelli, Sam Lowes, Alvaro Bautista and Toprak Razgatlioglu rounding out the top eight. Bulega set a 1'29.205 fastest lap in the lead, breaking half a second free of Iannone with Redding seven tenths behind. Bautista powered past Sam Lowes for fifth place behind Petrucci as Razgatlioglu passed Andrea Locatelli to catch Sam Lowes.

Lap four, Bulega led Iannone and Redding with eight tenths between each rider as Razgatlioglu took sixth place from Sam Lowes into turn one. Lap five and Redding dropped a few tenths from Iannone as Petrucci, Bautista and Razgatlioglu caught him. Bautista tucked into the wake of Redding and Petrucci and passed the pair into turn one. Razgatlioglu waved an apology as he made a hard pass, bashing into Petrucci into turn four, taking fifth place from him.

At the start of lap seven, Bulega recorded another fastest lap, a 1'29.069, over a second chlear of Iannone. Bautista sat in third place, two seconds off Iannone, with Redding on his tail. Razgatlioglu was over as second behind, fending off Petrucci and Sam Lowes as he got a penalty to drop a place to Petrucci after his prang. Sam Lowes followed Petrucci through.

The pit window opened and Bulega stayed out, while Iannone, Redding, Bautista, Petrucci and both Loweses pitted in. Razgatlioglu slipped into second place, seven and a quarter seconds behind Bulega. A lap later, Ryan Vickers took over the lead as Bulega and Razgatlioglu pitted in.

When the timing screen returned to normal, Bulega led Iannone, Redding, Bautista, Petrucci, Andrea Locatelli, Sam Lowes and Razgatlioglu.

As Bautista set a 1'28.836 fastest lap, Razgatlioglu pitted back in, struggling with his new tyres and retiring from the race. Scott Redding was given a 2.9 second penalty for pit lane infringement, five times the amount of time he gained.

At the start of lap thirteen of twenty, Nicolo Bulega led Alvaro Bautista by three seconds with Andrea Iannone and Scott Redding behind. Danilo Petrucci was over four seconds behind Redding, enough for Redding's penalty not to affect his position if he could maintain the pace. Bautista was lapping three tenths of a second quicker than Bulega, bringing Iannone with him as he closed on Bulega, but Bulega had enough of a gap to maintain his lead in spite of the pace difference.

In fifth place, Sam Lowes and Danilo Petrucci continued their fight ahead of Andrea Locatelli and Alex Lowes with Yari Montella and Axel Bassani rounding out the top ten. In the pits, Razgatlioglu's bike bore the evidence of his frustration, missing its windscreen.

Remy Gardner crashed out on lap seventeen while Bulega maintained his gap from Bautista, ending Bautista's hope for a win as Iannone hounded him. Sam Lowes closed a few tenths on Redding, still outside his penalty, over four seconds off Redding, but holding better pace as the la=ps ticked off. Petrucci and Sam Lowes swapped back and forth, giving Redding a breather he didn't know he needed as they entertained the crowd with confident passes.

At the start of the last lap, Bulega led Bautista by almost three seconds, with Bautista and Iannone settled in second and third. Redding held fourth place but Petrucci and Sam Lowes had a proper close battle, separated by a tenth of a second.

Nicolo Bulega took his first triple victory over two and a half seconds clear of Alvaro Bautista with Andrea Iannone over a second further back rounding out the podium. Scott Redding held on to fourth place in spite of his penalty as Danilo Petrucci held off Sam Lowes for fifth place.

Nicolo Bulega finished a perfect weekend with a championship lead off twenty six points over Alvaro Bautista. Andrea Iannone sits one point behind Bautista in third place. Danilo Petrucci and Scott Redding round out the top five, a Ducati dominance of the top five places. Reigning world champion Toprak Razgatlioglu languishes in eighth place after scoring no points on Sunday.

Results:

Pos No. Rider Bike Gap
1 11 N. BULEGA Ducati Panigale V4R  
2 19 A. BAUTISTA Ducati Panigale V4R 2.603
3 29 A. IANNONE Ducati Panigale V4R 3.980
4P 45 S. REDDING Ducati Panigale V4R 8.043
5 9 D. PETRUCCI Ducati Panigale V4R 10.009
6 14 S. LOWES Ducati Panigale V4R 10.097
7 55 A. LOCATELLI Yamaha YZF R1 11.083
8 22 A. LOWES bimota KB998 Rimini 11.180
9 5 Y. MONTELLA Ducati Panigale V4R 11.202
10 P 47 A. BASSANI bimota KB998 Rimini 11.918
11 97 X. VIERGE Honda CBR1000 RR-R 18.472
12 77 D. AEGERTER Yamaha YZF R1 18.507
13 31 G. GERLOFF Kawasaki ZX-10RR 25.853
14 60 M. VAN DER MARK BMW M1000RR 25.891
15 17 R. VICKERS Ducati Panigale V4R 29.402
16 99 B. SOFUOGLU Yamaha YZF R1 41.810
17 P 53 T. RABAT Yamaha YZF R1 43.805
18 49 T. NAGASHIMA Honda CBR1000 RR-R 51.209
RET 87 R. GARDNER Yamaha YZF R1 4 Laps
RET 1 T. RAZGATLIOGLU BMW M1000RR 10 Laps
RET 95 T. MACKENZIE Honda CBR1000 RR-R 6
2025
1
World Superbikes
Phillip Island, Australia
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Comments

Seems like Ducati continue to be the only manufacturer to take the championship seriously. As they have done since the early 90's they continue to be the only manufacturer to sell complete Factory level bikes to privateers. For that matter, how many manufacturer's even run an official team? The Japanese teams have mostly farmed their efforts out to supported (or not) private entities rather than make a full-on commitment. Unlike Ducati, you can't go to Yamaha, Honda, BMW, Bimota and buy a competitive bike, and on the flipside, nor are Yamaha, Honda, BMW, Bimota able to glean any further information on top of their own minimal efforts.

BMW were offering various engine packages/specs to privateers around the world at one stage, not sure if that's still the case? But either way they have reduced their involvement with the Bonovo squad going the way of the dinosaurs, with both riders making big errors, then a mechanical failure cruelling their weekend. They seem to be pinning their hopes on Topraq doing for them what Marquez did for Honda, only this time without their super concessions.

The same can be said for Yamaha and their Yamaha Motor Europe/Crescent collab, with their headline rider busting himself and ruling himself out for a couple of rounds. 

After assuming the mantle from Ten Kate HRC have been spectacularly mediocre, and their perseverance with riders who have never cracked the elite level is perplexing. FYI, Vierge never won a Moto2 race, and had just 4 podiums in 110 starts. Lecuona is similar, not a single win in Moto2 and 2 podiums across 55 starts. How good/bad is the CBR1000RRRRR really? Who knows, Vierge/Lecuona are basically mirroring their Moto 2 form.

It mightn't be a popular result, but it seems entirely appropriate that the most committed manufacturer/team, making the least errors (so far), had the best weekend. 

Thanks for the coverage Jared. And Seven4nineR I think your summation was exactly right. Even Toprak is screaming about his package now it’s concession free. We may have proven the limit of rider talent overcoming bike limits. The worry for me is that there are a number of good riders on machinery that’s precisely reflecting the lack of factory effort - I really hate seeing classy riders on uncompetitive bikes. It’s the reason I have (too often) ranted about the Honda motogp effort which hasn’t only been off the pace but is turning its riders into meat crayons,

are exactly correct in your comment about Ducati. They want to win, put the effort, and money, into the series and the results are predictable.

It's getting a little tiresome hearing people say the rule makers are favoring Ducati. Ducati takes the rules as given, and runs with them.

Thoroughly enjoyed the Ducati Cup superbike races though the tyre change sort of lost a bit of the momentum half way through. Great to see the supersports had four different bike brands in the top five finishers.