Ending Race 2 of a WorldSBK weekend in a battle with Toprak Razgatlioglu is a place a lot of the Turkish rider’s rivals might solely dream of for a lot of the summer time, however Nicolo Bulega ended his weekend at Portimao in such a place.
Within the ultimate race of the weekend, Bulega completed simply 0.035 seconds shy of Razgatlioglu, who received all three races for the fourth spherical in succession.
“Sadly, I misplaced the battle with Toprak for nothing,” Bulega informed WorldSBK.com, “however it was my first time right here with the Superbike so I’m blissful. It’s all the time good to be on the rostrum.”
Bulega had thought that victory was doable towards Razgatlioglu, however discovered his choices for overtaking restricted.
“I knew that Toprak was very quick,” Bulega stated, “however the final laps I used to be not an excessive amount of slower. Two or three laps to go I see the likelihood to win, so I attempt to not lose [too much time] to him. I do know that it was very troublesome to overhaul him as a result of he brakes very onerous, and the BMW is quick, so it was troublesome to overhaul him.
“I attempted in the one level the place I used to be quicker, the final nook, however it was too late.”
Regardless of the constructive ending, on the rostrum in second place, it had been an advanced weekend for Bulega from the start. “Probably the most troublesome weekends of my life as a result of from Friday I didn’t really feel superb,” the Italian stated.
A mixture of bodily issues and a motorcycle difficulty within the opening 10 minutes of FP1 set the Italian off on the again foot in Portimao.
“It’s a troublesome weekend as a result of I miss FP1 for a technical downside, and in addition I begin the weekend very sick,” stated Bulega. “I used to be at 60 per cent, I used to be very dangerous all of the weekend. So thanks additionally to the docs that comply with me all of the weekend, to my staff, to myself, as a result of it was some of the troublesome weekends of my life.”
Bulega is now 92 factors behind Razgatlioglu within the championship, himself sitting in second place, forward of the following spherical at Magny-Cours, a circuit the place he received twice in Supersport final 12 months.
Waiting for the French Spherical, Bulega stated: “It will likely be troublesome as a result of Magny-Cours is a technical monitor, however I prefer it. Final 12 months, in Supersport, I received each races, however like all the time this 12 months can be completely different, however I’ll attempt to do my greatest.”
