If the Assen Circuit is an iconic track, today it definitively enters history together with Nicholas Spinelli: the crazy weather gave us an equally crazy Race 1, in which the Barni standard bearer put on a show by winning on his debut in the category. The young Italian was called upon to replace the injured Danilo Petrucci and, in his first appearance in Superbike, triumphed ahead of the much more favored Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista, second and third respectively.
The choice of tires was crucial in particularly treacherous conditions because the rain is messing up the plans from Friday's free practice for the Dutch round. The wet but at times dry track led the riders to differentiate their strategies, with the majority on slicks while Spinelli was the only one to mount a pair of intermediates. Taking the lead straight away, the Barni rider managed to build a gap of over 20 seconds on his pursuers, enough to keep him in front even when the track slowly dried out.
Crazy first half of the race, with many outsiders fighting for the podium positions. Among these Axel Bassani, for a moment in second position chasing Spinelli. However, as the laps went by, the track slowly became dry again and, despite a few wet patches, the riders who had mounted the slicks started to come back on. Alvaro Bautista and Toprak Razgatlioglu remained fighting for the leading positions, with the latter author of a great overtaking a few laps from the end which allowed him to take second position.
The two were becoming a threat to Spinelli, who was firmly in the lead from the start of the race, but Andrea Locatelli became an “ally” (against himself) of the Barni rider: the Yamaha rider in fact lost oil, forcing him to display the red flag. Race ended with 7 laps to spare and Spinelli made history: the Italian crossed the finish line 3 seconds ahead of Razgatlioglu, second and ready to attack the top before the race was interrupted. Closing out the podium was Alvaro Bautista, who achieved a valuable third position for the championship.
Jonathan Rea, who had won the Superpole and tried to hold on to first place, also dreamed, only to then fall back and finish the race in sixth place. The Northern Irishman remained behind former teammate Alex Lowes, fifth with Kawasaki. The first of the Yamahas instead is that of Remy Gardner, fourth with the R1 of the GRT team.
The other BMWs had a good race, with Michael van der Mark taking seventh place on his home track ahead of Bonovo driver Scott Redding, eighth. Closing the top 10 we find Bassani and Xavi Vierge, ninth and tenth respectively. Nicolò Bulega remains outside the group of the top ten, author of a game in defense also thanks to the arm recently operated on for arm pump. However, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who retired, and Andrea Iannone, who crashed when he was in the top positions, did not finish the race.
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