Australia speaks Italian: Phillip Island is tinged with the Italian flag this weekend that opens the season and, together with Alvaro Bautista’s dominance in Superbike, Nicolò Bulega imposes himself in Supersport, giving Ducati its first double win in the intermediate class of series. The season of the rider from Reggio Emilia could not have started better than this, as in Race 1 he achieved his first success in Supersport, repeating himself in the second heat.
Bulega is back on the top step of the podium after eight years of fasting, bringing Ducati back to the top for the first time since 2005, when it won in Supersport with Gianluca Nannelli. He had to wait a year before feeling the taste of victory, but Bulegas he inaugurated 2023 by taking what had eluded him last year, when he was making his debut in the class, again with Ducati.
The conditions of both races were anything but simple, on Saturday the pouring rain increased the difficulty and an accident between Yari Montella and Adrian Huertas forced Race Direction to display the red flag. Second restart, still in the wet and with poor visibility. Here Bulega managed to juggle to be able to bring home his first success of the season, ahead of Nicholas Spinelli and John McPhee, second and third respectively.
A lot of Italy in Race 1, with the VFT team rider who conquered the second step of the podium, his first in his career. In his debut race in Supersport, the British of team Vince64 by Puccetti also managed to have his say, getting on the podium at the start of this new adventure. It should be underlined that in the first three positions we find three different manufacturers and this is already a taste of what the fight could be like during the season.
The taste of victory was so sweet for Bulega, that he wanted to taste it also on the Australian Sunday morning (Italian night). The weather in Race 2 was certainly more forgiving, allowing the riders to take to the track in the dry and under the sun. In different conditions, the Ducati rider managed to establish himself, scoring his first one-two in Supersport.
However, it was not all easy for Bulega: in the hunt for success he had to contend with a very fierce Stefano Manzi, who this year is in the force of the world champion team Ten Kate. Only two geese deprived us of a great duel for victory. The two animals invaded the track, forcing the Race Direction to display the red flag when there were five laps to go. The race did not start again, thus assigning the victory to Nicolò, first ahead of Manzi.
A pinch of luck accompanied the Aruba rider in this second success. In fact, Bulega launched the attack that turned out to be successful on Manzi just before the race was stopped. Therefore, the victory narrowly escaped the Ten Kate team rider, but he brought home his first podium of the season. Complete the podium of Race 2 Can Oncu, who with the third position on Sunday redeemed himself from the Saturday to forget. In fact, the Turkish rider slipped in the warm-up lap, losing the chance to fight with his rivals.
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