Stefano Manzi clawed back some precious ground on Nicolo Bulega in their fight for the 2023 WorldSSP Championship title with a hard fought first win of the season in Race 2 at Misano.

A long-awaited first success for the Italian since joining defending champions Ten Kate Racing, the Italian shrugged off his lowly 12th place starting position to work his way contention for victory, taking the fight to Bulega in an absorbing second-half.

The runaway winner in race one, Bulega began race two from pole position as the favourite to make it a double, but - just as he did in race one - made things difficult initially with a tardy start that ceded the initial advantage to Federico Caricasulo and Yari Montella.

Dispatching of Montella before the end of the opening lap, Bulega came up against stiffer opposition in Caricasulo, who gamely defended from his countryman on the sister Althea Ducati twice rebuffing overtakes at Turn 8 on lap two and three.

Eventually Bulega got his way when Caricasulo's staunch defence on the run to Turn 9 on lap four sent him wide on the exit, down to sixth and out of the lead battle.

Bulega assumed the lead but found himself with Marcel Schroetter and Manzi for company, the latter Italian having made good progress from his row four starting position in the early laps.

Manzi got the better of Schroetter on lap six to begin sizing Bulega up for the lead, the pair running line astern for several laps as they steadily edged away from the MV Agusta in third.

A cheeky undertake coming through the Turn 1/2 complex saw Manzi nose his Yamaha R6 into the lead for the first time with eight laps to go, only for Bulega to return the favour three laps later, the pair winding up the tension as the chequered flag neared.

Biding him time behind the Aruba.it Ducati man, Manzi saved his best until the last lap with an aggressive line coming into Turn 3 allowing him to get underneath Bulega, before out-dragging him on the run to Turn 4.

Giving Manzi the lead once more, though Bulega attempted to hustle his countryman in the hope of forcing a mistake, he'd run out of time. As such, Manzi took the flag first, ending his wait for victory as a Ten Kate Yamaha rider, the ex-Moto2 doubling up his career WorldSSP wins to join his victory with Triumph at Portimao last season.

With five extra points in his favour over Bulega, Manzi has thus reduced his rival's championship lead, though the former VR46 Academy member retains a healthy 36 point lead overall.

A seventh podium for the ultra-consistent Marcel Schroetter also keeps him in the title reckoning, the German 49 points off the top, though Caricasulo - who ended his weekend in fourth place - now stares down a 70 point deficit to the top.

With Montella, Glenn van Straalen and Jorge Navarro all separately crashing out of top six positions at some stage in the race, the door was opened for Adrian Huertas to pop into the top five for the first time this season on the MTM Kawasaki, the youngster leading home experienced Simone Corsi in sixth,

Catalunya race winner Bahattin Sofuoglu bounced back from his Race 1 crash to secure a seventh place finish, ahead of local rider Nicholas Spinelli (VFT Yamaha) and Lucas Mahias (Puccetti Kawasaki), while top Triumph rider Niki Tuuli completed the top ten.

In a mixed day for the British contingent, Tarran Mackenzie and Harry Truelove were non-finishers on their respective Honda and Triumph machines, though Tom Booth-Amos collected points in 12th and John McPhee got a much needed finish on the board in 19th.

Misano WorldSSP - RACE 2 RESULTS