The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is ready for the first of two visits to Italy in 2026, and the first is from the Misano World Circuit \u201cMarco Simoncelli\u201d. It\u2019s a venue that is always full to the rafters of passionate fans, cheering on their local heroes, and the action always delivers at the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round. Get set for a weekend of thrills and spills on the beautiful Adriatic coast.<\/p>\n
BULEGA\u2019S HISTORIC STREAK<\/p>\n
There\u2019s only one place to start and that\u2019s Nicolo Bulega<\/a> (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati). 22 wins in a row, 18 this year, and the #11 goes in search of more history this weekend. One podium will tie him with Colin Edwards and Marco Melandri, the latter being the Italian rider with the most podiums, and what better place for \u2018Bulegas\u2019 to do that than home soil? Of course, he\u2019s still aiming to continue his already-historic win streak too. Last year, he was beaten in Race 1 and Race 2 by Toprak Razgatlioglu, while he was taken out of the Tissot Superpole Race by a fast-starting Axel Bassani<\/a> (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team). The #47 is always quick on home soil and would welcome a return to the rostrum, but he\u2019ll face stiff competition: Iker Lecuona<\/a> (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) is on a run of 15 second-place finishes, while Sam Lowes<\/a> (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) was back to his podium-contending best at Aragon with three P3s. Alex Lowes<\/a> (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) claim a rostrum for Bimota in 2025 and will look to repeat that this year.<\/p>\n HOME HEROES GALORE<\/p>\n Aside from Bulega and Bassani, there are plenty of Italian riders aiming high. Both Yari Montella<\/a> (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Lorenzo Baldassarri<\/a> (Team GoEleven) have been podium contenders in 2026, although the Aragon Round was difficult for both and the #5 and the #34 will aim to respond on home soil. Alberto Surra<\/a> (Motocorsa Racing) heads to Misano on the back of his best WorldSBK result of P4 last time out, as well as taking third in the Tissot Superpole session, and the #67 can almost touch the podium. In 2025 in the Moto2 European Championship, Surra won the race, as he did in 2024, at Misano. Andrea Locatelli<\/a> (Pata Maxus Yamaha) hasn\u2019t been out of the top six at Misano since the 2023 Tissot Superpole Race, and he\u2019ll want to continue that streak, while Stefano Manzi<\/a> (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) will look for a first single-digit result of the year; the #62\u2019s best so far has been P10, but he\u2019s also been a race winner at Misano twice in WorldSSP. Mattia Rato<\/a> (Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) has only scored points once in 2026, but he\u2019ll be aiming to add to his tally on home soil.<\/p>\n IN GREAT FORM<\/p>\n Like Surra, Tommy Bridewell<\/a> (Superbike Advocates) continued his impressive run by taking his best WorldSBK finish at Aragon with fifth in Race 1 and the #46 has been getting closer and closer to the front of the field on a consistent basis. Garrett Gerloff<\/a> (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) ended Aragon with P6, but lamented his Superpole results, and will look to be in the top six once again; since the Tissot Superpole Race at Balaton Park, the Texan has only been out of the top six on three occasions, and two of those were at Aragon. Alvaro Bautista<\/a> (Barni Spark Racing Team) put in a heroic effort at Aragon to come away with P7 in Race 2, less than two weeks on from surgery. The #19 will be even closer to full fitness with more recovery under his belt, looking to add to his six Misano wins. Xavi Vierge<\/a> (Pata Maxus Yamaha) endured a tough Aragon Round, with a high of P10 in the Superpole Race, and will look to be in the top ten once again at Misano.<\/p>\n AIMING HIGH IN ITALY<\/p>\n Tarran Mackenzie<\/a> (MGM Optical Express Racing) took one top ten finish at Aragon, in Race 1, and will look to return to single-digit results at Misano. He\u2019s yet to score WorldSBK points at Misano in six attempts, when he was running for the MIE Honda Racing squad. 2026 has been tough for Remy Gardner<\/a> (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) so far, but recently he\u2019s shown signs of being closer to the top ten, finishing 12th in Race 2 last time out at Aragon. He had a battle with Somkiat Chantra<\/a> (Honda HRC) in Race 1, with the #35 penalised with a two-position drop, but the Thai rider seemingly made a step forward at Aragon and he\u2019ll be hoping to continue that at Misano. Bahattin Sofuoglu<\/a> (Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) will aim for a return to the points at Misano, having not scored since Race 2 at Balaton Park.<\/p>\n GRID CHANGES AT MISANO<\/p>\n Despite making his long-awaited Honda debut at MotorLand Aragon, Jake Dixon<\/a> (Honda HRC) will miss the Emilia-Romagna Round as he focuses on the next stage of his rehabilitation programme<\/a>. In Italy, he will be replaced by Ryan Vickers<\/a>, who already made a wildcard appearance for Honda in Australia. At BMW, Head of BMW Motorrad Motorsport Sven Blusch said at Aragon that Misano is the target<\/a> for both Miguel Oliveira<\/a> (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and teammate Danilo Petrucci<\/a> to return, with the #88 also stating it was realistic<\/a> for him. If either or both are to compete, they will need to pass a pre-round medical check.<\/p>\n Watch the 47-minute highlights show from Aragon HERE<\/a>, read the Official Programme for Misano HERE<\/a> and watch every moment from Italy using the WorldSBK VideoPass \u2013 now HALF PRICE!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is ready for the first of two visits to Italy in 2026,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85,83],"class_list":["post-722770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}