Spinelli’s fairytale
Nobody predicted that Nico Spinelli would win on his World Superbike debut. Yet that’s exactly what happened when red flags came out on Saturday, the Italian being caught hand-over-fist by Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista before the race was stopped. Following Nicolo Bulega’s achievement in Australia, it’s the second time this season that a rider has won on their debut – and just the eighth time in history.
Spinelli, 22 from Atri in the Abruzzo region of Italy, is a double Moto3 Champion in his native Italy as well as claiming the Supersport class in 2022. He has now won races in both MotoE and WSBK this year! The win – sealed by an inspired decision to fit intermediate tyres on a drying track – brought delight around the paddock, not least for team owner Marco Barnabo, rewarded with his first WSBK victory after years of trying. Up until Saturday he’d always been the nearly man, with Xavi Fores and Danilo Petrucci having scored ten podiums between them previously.
Petrucci is recovering following an horrendous motocross crash the week before Assen. Hit by a suspected loose handlebar grip, the Italian accelerated over a jump instead of decelerating; he fell hard, hitting the face of the next jump and breaking both his jaw and a collarbone when slamming into his handlebars. Both wheels were destroyed in the process.
“I’m happy to be alive,” Petrucci tells MCN. “If I hadn’t have landed still on the bike, I wouldn’t be here to tell the tale. It was a very, very scary moment.”