Nicolo Bulega rolls into the Autodrom Most paddock this weekend doing what no rider has done in the modern WorldSBK era: arriving at a circuit with sixteen consecutive race wins and 25 straight podiums in his back pocket, and no Toprak Razgatlioglu in the grid behind him.
The Italian completed a clean sweep of Hungarian Round at Balaton Park earlier this month, claiming Race 1, the Superpole Race and Race 2 to extend a run that began late in 2025. The hat-trick took him level with Colin Edwards and the now-departed Razgatlioglu for consecutive podiums and broke Razgatlioglu's own record for race wins in succession.
"Another amazing weekend, I'm even happier than the last rounds," Bulega said after the Hungarian sweep. "This is my worst track, for my riding style, it's always really difficult to ride here. I really wanted this hat trick here at Balaton Park."
He also offered a glimpse of the off-track satisfaction driving the streak.
"It's fantastic, it makes me very proud to do it with Ducati," Bulega said. "An Italian bike, and Italian brand with an Italian rider is something very special. When I see all our team so happy, it makes me even happier."
Most has, for years, been Razgatlioglu's playground. The Turkish rider has converted 10 victories and 14 podiums from 15 races at the Czech venue, but he is not on the entry list this weekend, having vacated his BMW seat to begin his MotoGP career with Prima Pramac Yamaha. The 2026 WorldSBK season is the first without Razgatlioglu since 2013, and the absence is reshaping the entire weekend's expectations.
In his place, BMW have leaned on their factory infrastructure to keep development moving, and Bonovo Action's Michael van der Mark steps in for the injured Miguel Oliveira, whose absence from the Czech round was confirmed earlier in the week. Honda HRC's Jake Dixon is also out, still working back from the wrist fracture he sustained in the official Australia test, and Yuki Kunii will deputise again.
The headline pre-event story among the regulars surrounds Danilo Petrucci. The Italian took what he later described as a "big hit" at Balaton Park and went into the medical centre needing scans before being cleared to ride. Petrucci has confirmed he will line up at Most.
The shape of the championship leaves Bulega in an enviable but exposed position. He has won every WorldSBK race in 2026 - twelve from twelve before the Hungarian hat-trick took the tally to a clean sixteen - and his only credible challenger is the calendar itself. Bulega has been notably guarded about how long the streak can survive.
"The season is long, though," he said. "There are some tracks I like, some I don't like, and the weather can make things tricky."
Most falls firmly into the second category. The Czech layout's quick changes of direction reward fluid riders rather than the late-braking strength that has powered Bulega's Ducati Panigale V4 R to its remorseless run. Razgatlioglu's old BMW M1000 RR remains the bike best matched to the venue, but without its star rider it now lines up as a piece of evidence rather than a threat.
Alvaro Bautista, who staged the comeback of the Mandalika round to climb from P16 to P5 a fortnight back, sits as the most realistic spoiler. The Spaniard's experience at Most, paired with a Ducati setup mirrored on Bulega's, makes him the rider most likely to push the streak toward its first real test of the year. Whether that ends the run, or simply pushes it past 17, will be the only question that matters by Sunday afternoon.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/bulega-wsbk-most-czech-round-2026-sixteen-wins-petrucci-oliveira-dixon). Visit for full coverage.*
