The Superbike is a world championship worthy of a novel and this one is truly special: Nicholas Spinelli, 23 years old, wins on his debut with the Ducati freed by Danilo Petrucci’s injury. A daring race 1, which started with damp asphalt in some areas, wet in others. The big names mounted the slicks, while the Italian Supersport champion risked the intermediates, having nothing to lose. In the first laps he pushed hard, gaining up to 24 seconds. When he began to dry, the protagonists rushed forward and would have taken a single bite of the fugitive. But with seven laps to go the race was interrupted due to oil left on the track by Locatelli’s Yamaha. A saving red flag for Nicholas, mocking for Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista who were already anticipating the final duel for the victory. No way.
A crazy ride
It was a beautiful race 1 with a completely crazy development. Spinelli caught the ace, but was formidable in the first laps in taking advantage of the favorable tire choice. After all, he had also been strong in Superpole, in similar conditions, setting the eleventh time: a super performance for a rookie substitute. Then Nicholas was calm and did not lose his composure when the inertia of the tire play was reversed, allowing the pack of snarling dogs in pursuit to gain 2-3 seconds per lap. Of course, the red flag was a godsend, but nice like that, for once. The early stoppage was twice mocking for Alvaro Bautista, who had just been overtaken by Toprak Razgatlioglu. The Spaniard thought about playing it at the end, but his thoughts went up in smoke.
The mark on the World Cup
Distorted in its development, the first Dutch challenge left a big mark on the rankings. The leader Nicolò Bulega did not find himself with slicks in the wet, immediately disappearing from the group of the best to finish eleventh. He had made the same choice as Toprak and Bautista (SC1 in front, SCX in the back) but it wasn’t him. “I put the right tires but we didn’t have time to switch to the dry set-up” explained Bulega. The lead has gone up in smoke, now Bautista and Toprak are within one point and after 7 races, out of 36 scheduled, the World Championship starts again from scratch, having already counted five different winners.
Andrea Iannone what a shame!
Andrea Iannone lost ground in the standings after crashing on lap seven while at loggerheads with Bautista and Toprak. A wasted opportunity: the former MotoGP rider started very aggressively, but in such difficult conditions the line between prowess and error is very thin. Jonathan Rea’s day ends in sixth place, having raised his head in the morning by scoring his first Superpole with Yamaha. It could have been a change of pace, but the new challenge remains to be won.
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