Winning streak ends but Bulega continues to dominate
After being victorious in the first 21 races of the 2026 season, Nicolo Bulega’s phenomenal winning streak in this year’s World Superbike Championship (WSB) was finally ended in the opening race at Donington Park last weekend, but he bounced back to win the next two to ensure his dominance continues, the Italian enjoying a mammoth 133-point lead with just four rounds remaining.
Lecuona finally wins
If anyone was going to halt Bulega’s run it was always going to be Aruba.it Racing Ducati team-mate Iker Lecuona and that’s exactly what happened. The Spaniard had finished second to Bulega in 18 consecutive races but at a circuit he’s never really gelled with, he finally turned the tables at Donington Park with a slender 0.165s victory in race one at the Leicestershire venue.
It was the least Lecuona deserved. In any other year, he’d be World Champion but that looks a tall order given Bulega’s winning spree. However, whilst eyebrows were raised when the 26-year old was announced as the second rider after four relatively lacklustre years on the troublesome Honda, he’s more than proven his worth.
Lecuona’s talent has been clear right from his Moto 2 days from 2016-19 and two seasons in MotoGP confirmed this. He was unlucky to lose his MotoGP ride and whilst the Honda WSB looked good on paper, the reality was very different and like riders before and after him, he struggled. There were fleeting glimpses and that’s what prompted Ducati to sign him.
He again showed his credentials in the Hungarian MotoGP round in June when he deputised for the injured Alex Marquez. Despite no testing, seventh in the feature race was an exceptional effort and whilst the WSB title may now be out of reach, he’ll continue to hassle and harry Bulega in every race with another victory or two more than a possibility.
Bulega brilliance
The run may have ended but Bulega remains the cream of the crop in the World Superbike Championship. As mentioned, his response to failing to win was that of a champion with two more wins no doubt kickstarting another sequence of success.
Bulega was red hot favourite before the season begun, largely due to the fact he was the only rider capable of challenging eventual champion Toprak Razgatlioglu last year. His winning run though has perhaps surprised a few people in the paddock although he always stated he wouldn’t go through the season unbeaten.
The Donington loss has been the only blip, if it can be called that, in 2026 and it’s only a matter of time before his move to MotoGP is announced. The 26-year old is expected to take one of the Ducati berths at the VR46 Racing team – Bulega previously rode for Valentino Rossi’s team in the Moto 2 (2019) and Moto 3 (2015-2018) categories but he’s a very different rider now and he’s sure to impress in 2027.
Best of the rest
The factory Ducati team of Bulega and Lecuona may be dominating this year’s series but equally impressive have been the performances of Yari Montella. The Italian had a solid rookie season in 2025, but he lacked consistency, something he’s more than rectified this season.
Indeed, whilst many assumed Alvaro Bautista would be the leading contender from the Barni Spark Racing team, Montella has left him trailing in his wake and, armed with a near identical Ducati to that of Bulega and Lecuona, he’s ‘best of the rest’ within the WSB field.
Bulega and Lecuona have been racking up the 1-2 finishes for the factory Ducati team, but Montella has been on the rostrum on no less than 11 occasions, ten of those coming in the last 13 races. His only dip in his podium sequence came at the Aragon round in Spain when he could only manage a best finish of seventh but other than that he’s been right in the wheel tracks of Bulega and Lecuona.
Whether or not he can break their stranglehold remains to be seen but he’s knocking on the door and if he keeps doing that, there’s a chance of it opening for him.
Strong seasons for the Lowes twins
The Lowes twins, Alex and Sam, have been competing on the World stage for well over a decade now, Alex competing full time in the World Superbike Championship since 2014 and Sam having contested the Moto 2 Championship between 2014 and 2023, save one unhappy year in MotoGP, before joining his brother in WSB in 2024.
They’ve both endured their ups and downs in that time, multiple podiums (and 10 Moto 2 wins for Sam) offset by spills that have prevented them from ever mounting a serious title challenge in their respective championships.
What’s never been in doubt is their talent, attitude and determination and despite the knock backs, they’ve always jumped straight back up to challenge at the front in the next race.
Alex, riding for the bimota by Kawasaki racing team, has been the slightly more consistent of the two this year, only failing to score points in three of the 24 races to take place so far compared to the six no scores of Sam.
However, Sam continues to feature more often on the podium, having recorded seven so far this season on the Elf Marc VDS Racing Ducati with Alex’ solitary podium appearance coming at round one.
Sam’s seventh podium came at Donington with third in the Superpole race, a fitting result and tribute in the team’s first race after long time team owner Marc van der Straaten sadly passed away prior to the event.
Bridewell impresses but injury rules out Mackenzie
There were mixed fortunes for the Ducati pairing of Tommy Bridewell and Tarran Mackenzie at Donington as whilst the former had his best meeting to date, the latter was ruled out by injury.
At the age of 37, a maiden WSB campaign has come late in Bridewell’s career, and it was only at the 11th hour this year that the opportunity arose, his Superbike Advocates team making a last-minute switch from the British Superbike Championship to the World stage instead. He’s more than making the most of the opportunity presented.
Having missed the first round, Bridewell joined the series at round two and has slowly built momentum. Points were scored immediately with his first top ten finishes coming at Most in the Czech Republic and he’s stayed there regularly since. Donington saw him take a career best fifth, backing this up with seventh in the Superpole race and only a technical issue prevented another top six finish in the final race of the weekend.
Mackenzie, meanwhile, came into his home round having already racked up nine top ten finishes. Three more looked a certainty as he ran inside the top six in Friday’s free practice sessions, but it all went awry in the second of the two sessions when he hit a bump under braking for Goddards.
The bike snapped out of control and threw him down on the tarmac hard, concussion and broken bones ruling him out. He, for one, will be grateful of the long break now in the calendar and should be fully fit when racing resumes in September.
Dixon returns
After his initial return from injury was aborted at Aragon at the end of May, Jake Dixon returned to the fray at Donington although it didn’t start too well with a crash at Coppice in practice.
Still suffering with his damaged wrist, sustained in pre-season testing at Phillip Island, Australia in February, Dixon was unable to score any points, managing a best finish of 17th, but completing three, full race distances will have stood him in good stead.
Test rider Jonathan Rea gave the Honda team a little something to smile about as he placed tenth in the Superpole race to give the Japanese manufacturer its first top ten finish of the season.
Summer break
Arguably the worst aspect of the World Superbike Championship, aside from the Ducati domination, is the calendar with only 12 rounds compared to the 22 seen in the MotoGP World Championship.
Whilst no one is suggesting WSB wants 22 rounds, upping it by two or three would make a lot of sense especially as only one round of the 12 takes place outside of Europe. Starting in February and ending in October, there are currently large gaps between rounds with a full month between round one and two and another month gap between rounds seven eight.
We’ve got to mid-July and there’s only four rounds to go with a near two-month gap now until the ninth round takes place in France in early September, which is far too long. It’s not the first season it’s been like this and just as riders are building momentum and fans engaging themselves with the series, it’s halted, something that needs to be seriously looked at for future years.