Triple Winners at Assen WorldSBK
T
he weather was a pain in
the collective neck at the
Assen round of the WorldSBK
Championship, April 19-21, but it
was also the making and break-
ing of many riders' weekends.
There were interruptions, sudden
changes in track conditions and a
few too many red flags through-
out. And from the beginning,
some new pairings—or just new
people—took some career firsts.
In Superpole qualifying Jona-
than Rea (Pata Prometeon Ya-
maha) lit a warming candle in his
team's garage after a seriously
tough start to 2024. He had to
have five goes at taking his first
Yamaha Superpole, the 44th
such success of his long career,
but it was worth it on several lev-
els. He had his first trophy as a
Yamaha rider, sure, but he is now
also the stand-alone second-
best WorldSBK qualifier, having
outstripped Troy Corser by one
starting position.
As Superpole started to wind
down, he thought about coming
in for some inters on a drying
track, but it was another rider
who made that "middle child"
tire choice who would leave the
first two days of Assen action
with a shiny race winner's trophy.
And at his very first attempt.
Nicholas Spinelli, famous
in Australia for getting on a
WorldSSP podium last year,
stood in at Assen for the injured
Barni Spark Racing Ducati Super
-
bike regular Danilo Petrucci.
Having qualified 11th, Spinelli
was the only rider to choose
intermediates front and rear in
race one and he simply cleared
off when the race got underway
in wet conditions, but with no
rain falling.
He soon ended up over 24
seconds ahead of the best
Superbike riders in the world for
two laps, but as the track dried
and a racing line developed, the
vast majority of riders on slicks
started reeling him in. Rapidly.
Several top runners took turns
WIND
IN THE
P50
Nicholas Spinelli,
who was filling in
for the injured Barni
Spark Racing Ducati
Superbike regular
Danilo Petrucci, won
the wet and red-flagged
shortened race one.
