What a masterclass from Iker Lecuona. The Aruba.it Racing - Ducati rider stamped his authority all over Race 1 at the Cremona Circuit, taking his second win of the 2026 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship in breathtaking fashion. Lecuona crossed the line clear of the field, putting an emphatic 5.591-second gap between himself and teammate Nicolo Bulega. That winning margin is a statement in itself, marking the first time Bulega has been beaten by more than five seconds since Race 2 at Magny-Cours back in 2025. Crucially, the result keeps the championship battle alive, meaning Bulega will have to wait until Sunday at the EICMA Italian Round to chase down the crown.
Things looked spicy right from the start. Lecuona grabbed the holeshot when the lights went out, but the early order was instantly scrambled as Montella barged through at Turn 1 to demote Bulega and home hero Alberto Surra down to third and fourth. That chaos was short-lived, however, as Montella crashed at Turn 13 on the opening lap and plummeted to the back. That let Lecuona check out at the front. By Lap 3 he was already over a second clear, and despite Bulega trying desperately to match the pace, Lecuona pulled another four tenths clear on Lap 5 to stretch his advantage to 1.5 seconds. Even a massive wobble on Lap 10 couldn't derail the #7 machine, proving just how hard he was pushing his beast of a Ducati around the circuit.
Behind the leader, drama claimed the podium hopes of Motocorsa Racing's Alberto Surra when he crashed out of third place at Turn 7 on Lap 9. That heartbreak handed Sam Lowes a golden ticket. The ELF Marc VDS Racing Team rider gratefully inherited third, though he had to work for it by holding off Lorenzo Baldassarri at the checkered flag to secure his 14th WorldSBK podium.
Team GoEleven's Baldassarri was forced to settle for fourth, crossing the line 8.763 seconds off the winner after dropping just one second behind Lowes at the start of Lap 21. Further back, Garrett Gerloff put the Kawasaki WorldSBK Team machine into fifth place, taking his first top five finish since Most Race 2 following a hard-fought scrap with Alex Lowes. The bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team rider crossed the line just behind in sixth, with less than a second separating the pair.
A frantic multi-bike train fought over seventh place. Andrea Locatelli brought his Pata Maxus Yamaha home in seventh, but he had a furious pack breathing down his neck. Axel Bassani had to weather heavy pressure from Honda HRC's Jake Dixon through the middle phase after the Brit started all the way down in P18, before Dixon himself spent the final laps desperately fending off Alvaro Bautista. When the dust settled, Locatelli took seventh, Bassani eighth, and Dixon ninth, with a razor-thin 0.108s gap separating the rookie Dixon from two-time World Champion Bautista.
The points-paying positions rounded out with GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team teammates Stefano Manzi and Remy Gardner running in tandem for the entire 23-lap distance, ending up 11th and 12th respectively. Somkiat Chantra secured 13th to ensure both Hondas scored points, ahead of Danilo Petrucci and Loris Baz. Meanwhile, it was a brutal race of attrition out on track. Tommy Bridewell retired with a technical problem on Lap 8, Montella's nightmare afternoon ended with a second crash at Turn 10, Miguel Oliveira binned his ROKiT BMW inside the top ten on Lap 12, and Xavi Vierge saw his points hopes vanish with a crash at Turn 5 on Lap 17.
