Razgatlioglu dominates the SBK in Hungary: Bulega loses the World Championship

Toprak Razgatlioglu, riding his unstoppable BMW, secured a third consecutive hat-trick, bringing his total to 72 career victories. In the eighth Grand Prix of the 2025 World Superbike Championship at the brand-new Balaton Park Circuit in Hungary (where MotoGP will race for the first time in less than a month), the Turk dominated unchallenged with a hat-trick that particularly hurt his closest rival, Bulega. He finished second in Race 1, thirteenth in the humid Superpole Race due to a poor tire choice (intermediates), and second again in the final race, a full 10 seconds behind after climbing from 10th on the grid. This gap shouldn't be attributed (only) to his starting position, with Bulega's gap being just 1.5 seconds, nothing compared to the gap at the end of the race, which was well over 10 seconds. Razgatlioglu showed no mercy, offered no concessions, and snatched away Bulega's illusion of a 2025 World Championship title already in his pocket.

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After the first five rounds, before the sixth round at Misano, Bulega seemed poised for the title. But after the weekend at the Romagna track and the subsequent Donington round, dominated by Toprak, the Turkish rider regained the lead with a four-point advantage. Then came the hat-trick at the new Hungarian circuit. To give an idea of how impactful Toprak is on BMW, just remember teammate Van Der Mark's crash in the second half of race 2, while he was fifteenth, a full 22 seconds behind the race leader. In racing, "never say never" and anything is always possible. However, the current climate is no longer in favor of the Bulega-Ducati pairing. The gap between the two leaders has now become significant: 26 points, which, given this situation, could further increase over the next four rounds (37 points each). This favors Razgatlioglu, a rider who appears to be playing catch-up on his fast, bouncy BMW, demonstrating an undeniable superiority even over a quality rider like Bulega, who is perhaps already thinking about next season without the heavy presence of his Turkish rival, who has been competing in the MotoGP World Championship with Yamaha Pramac since 2026. In short, Razgatlioglu now appears to be playing cat and mouse on the track, aiming straight for his third World Championship. Bulega has no choice but to submit to Toprak's clear superiority, aiming not to flounder, settling for second place despite the ever-widening gap in the standings.

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Race 2 was a complete waste of time for Alvaro Bautista after a great start and leading for almost the entire first lap. Then, after being overtaken by the Turkish bombshell, Bau-Bau battled with Lowes and his teammate Bulega, who was recovering strongly. Contact with a kerb sent Alvarito crashing at high speed, right up to the wall, paving the way for a podium finish for Lowes, who was able to hold off the excellent Danilo Petrucci (ready to replace Razgatlioglu on the factory BMW next season), despite his fairing threatening to come off. Andrea Locatelli also performed well, putting a strong showing on a Yamaha that is recovering well. Now, WSBK is going on a long summer break, returning from September 5-7 for the French GP at Magny-Cours, the circuit where Razgatlioglu took his first world championship win, then aboard Kawasaki. Then we will continue with the last three rounds on 26-28 September in Aragon, 10-12 October in Estoril, and 17-19 October in Jerez.

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Here are the top ten at the finish line of race 1: