Nicolo Bulega remains unbeaten in WorldSBK 2026 after Assen superpole race win
Nicolo Bulega continued his dominance in WorldSBK 2026 on Sunday morning at Assen
Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega has extended his World Superbike championship lead after dominating the superpole race at Assen on Sunday morning.
So far unbeaten in the 2026 season across the first seven races, Nicolo Bulega extended that run on Sunday morning in the 10-lap superpole race.
Starting from pole, Bulega grabbed the holeshot on the factory Ducati and would not be tested even with late spots of rain bringing his lead gap down slightly in the closing stages.
Bulega has now won 12 races in a row, putting him one away from equalling the record of 13 in succession held by Toprak Razgatlioglu.
The Italian will also go from pole later on Sunday afternoon in Race 2.
Bulega led a Ducati 1-2-3 across the 10-lap superpole race at Assen, with the championship leader easing into the lead briefly ahead of Marc VDS’ Sam Lowes.
Lowes would be passed by the second of the factory team Ducatis of Iker Lecuona through Turn 4 on the opening lap.
That would be the last of the passes within the podium trio, who held a clear advantage over the rest of the pack behind it.
Bulega’s lead was already over a second by the start of lap three, with the Italian extending that to 1.6s at the start of the next tour.
His lead would swell to over two seconds at one stage, though his pace eased in the final laps as spots of rain began to fall on the Dutch circuit.
Bulega got to the chequered flag 1.742s clear of the field, with Lecuona 0.8s ahead of Lowes at the finish.
Alvaro Bautista was fourth on his Barni Ducati, after overhauling Bimota’s Alex Lowes in the latter stages of the race.
Xavi Vierge was sixth for Yamaha, with Danilo Petrucci seventh on the leading BMWs ahead of Yari Montella and Andrea Locatelli.
Yamaha’s Locatelli was forced to drop a position on the final lap due to irresponsible riding, ceding ninth to Remy Gardner at Turn 5.
But Locatelli was able to snatch the place back by the chequered flag.
Tarran Mackenzie crashed on lap five and was the only rider not to make it to the chequered flag.
Jonathan Rea was 17th as he continues his Honda stand-in duties, while Tommy Bridewell was 15th.
Bulega’s championship lead now stands at 64 points heading into Race 2.
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