WorldSBK

The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship racing action got underway with a shortened 20-lap Race 1 at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” during the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round as Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) led teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi as the pair sported a special yellow livery in Race 1. Bautista had a five-second margin over his teammate has he made it 12 wins from 13 races in 2023 while Rinaldi added to his Misano podium count.

As the lights went out for the 20-lap race, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) and Rinaldi looked to have got a better start compared to Bautista but the reigning Champion was able to hold on from the pair to keep the lead from pole position. The trio fought it out over the early laps of the race with Razgatlioglu aiming to pass Rinaldi around the outside into Turn 4 with the Italian defending to keep second place.

As the race settled down, Bautista and Rinaldi were both able to gap Razgatlioglu in first and second place respectively to claim a home victory for Ducati on a special liveried Panigale V4 R, with the bike running yellow colours rather than red to pay homage to Ducati’s history.

While the two Ducati riders checked out in front, Razgatlioglu had to withstand some early pressure from Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) but the 2021 Champion was able to resist that pressure before pulling out a gap over his rivals. As the race hit the halfway stage, Petrucci dropped Bassani behind him and started gaining on Razgatlioglu in the podium fight. By Lap 12, Ragatlioglu started pulling away from the Italian rookie to claim third place. Razgatlioglu’s third place means he closes in on a century of WorldSBK podium while it was Yamaha’s 349th race on the podium.

WorldSBK action resumes on Sunday from 09:00 (Local Time) with the Warm-Up, followed by Tissot Superpole Race at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00.

WorldSSP

It was a historic FIM Supersport World Championship Race 1 at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” during the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round as Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) extended his Championship lead with victory on home soil despite dropping back at the start of the race. He led an all-Italian podium at Misano as he claimed victory by almost two seconds for his sixth win of 2023 and his seventh podium in nine races.

Bulega had a poor start as the lights went out and initially lost out to Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Team) and Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) and he was then demoted to fourth when Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) came through on the Championship leader. However, in the next few laps, Bulega was able to re-take the lead before he started to pull out a gap on his rivals.

By the end of Lap 7, he had a gap of 1.7s as he looked to take his first WorldSSP victory in Italy and he was duly able to hold on to take his sixth win of the season on the Panigale V2 machine and extend his Championship lead over Schroetter with the German rider finishing in third place. His victory means he now has more wins for Ducati in WorldSSP than all the other Ducati winners combined.

The battle for second place turned into a three-way scrap with Schroetter running in second until Lap 8 before he was overtaken by Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha), who started from tenth, at Turn 8 to demote the German to third. Two laps later, Schroetter found himself in fourth place after Caricasulo overtook him through Turns 9 and 10 to claim a podium on home soil, the fifth Italian podium lookout. Manzi and Caricasulo had a late-race battle with Caricasulo looking to overtake Manzi, but the Yamaha rider was able to hold on for his 10th podium in WorldSSP while Caricasulo scored his 31st.

Schroetter was able to stem his losses once Caricasulo came by and he spent the second half of the race in fourth place as he tried to stay in touch with Caricasulo ahead of him, as he finished around two seconds clear of Montella who dropped to fifth despite his impressive start. Wildcard Simone Corsi (Altogo Racing Team) took sixth place on home soil after he battled up from 11th place; the Italian rider had a three-place grid drop for irresponsible riding in Tissot Superpole.

WorldSSP action resumes on Sunday from 09:25 (Local Time) with the Warm-Up, followed by Race 2 at 12:30.

WorldSSP300

The FIM Supersport 300 World Championship got racing action underway at the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round at the iconic Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” with a dramatic Race 1 as wildcard Bruno Ieraci (ProDina Kawasaki Racing) claimed a stunning home victory in his 49th WorldSSP300 race while Petr Svoboda (Fusport – RT Motorsport by SKM – Kawasaki) crashed out in the closing stages to relinquish his Championship lead.

The original race got underway but was quickly red flagged due to a technical issue with the race start, with the restarted race reduced to 10 laps with the original grid. The restarted race was ten laps of thrilling WorldSSP300 action as Ieraci held off a last lap, last corner move from Mirko Gennai (Team BrCorse) to claim his first win in the Championship and his second podium in WorldSSP300. Gennai’s second place, coupled with Championship leader Petr Svoboda (Fusport – RT Motorsport by SKM – Kawasaki) crashing out of the race, means he now leads the Championship after taking his seventh podium and his third consecutive rostrum finish. Humberto Maier (Yamaha MS Racing/AD78 Latin America Team) battled his way up the order to claim third place, his third podium in WorldSSP300.

Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez (Accolade Smrz Racing BGR) claimed fourth place for the fourth time this season out of five races time in 2023, narrowly missing out on a podium by just 0.078s, although he did have a half-a-second margin over Kevin Sabatucci (Team Flembbo – PI Performances) as he returned from injury with a top-five finish. Matteo Vannucci (AG Motorsport Italia Yamaha) battled his way from 19th on the grid to sixth place although he did lead at several points during the shortened race, finishing only 0.069s behind Sabatucci.

WorldSSP300 action resumes on Sunday from 09:50 (Local Time) with the Warm-Up, followed by Race 2 at 15:15.