WorldSBK Race 1 at Assen was arguabl🧸y most shocking race of the year in any discipline o🌸f motorcycle racing, as Nicholas Spinelli won on debut for the Barni Spark Ducati team.

Spinelli had been drafted in by Barni to replace Danilo Petrucci, who in the buil🐓d up to the Dutch Round had sustained serious injuries while riding motocross to train.

Spinelli had gained some experienꦅce in th🗹e WorldSBK paddock in 2023 when he raced the Supersport World Championship, but prior to practice at Assen in April the Italian hadn’t ridden the Superbike-spec Panigale V4 R.

Nonetheless, he was able to take advantage of changeable conditions and a gamble to run intermediate tyres to get himself to the front and then stay there until a red flag ꦯcame out just as he was being caught by Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista.

“The fact that we got this guy who had never been on this bike and win a race 🐬really seems more like a fairytal🔥e than a race,” Barni Ducati team owner Marco Barnabo told WorldSBK.com.

“It was incredibl💜e. It was extraordinary because, honestly🔥, we didn’t expect it at all. It was an indescribable emotion.

“I started laughing when I realised we had won the race — actual☂ly, to tell the truth, I started laughing on the first lap when we pulled seven or eight seconds ahead of everyone and I didn’t stop laughing all day.

“It’s a dream we’ve been 𝔍chasing since we started in the championship, and it’s something that I’d love to ꦯwish for everyone who does my job.

“The sacrifices all managers make to race in this championship, both financially and𒅌 in terms of commitment, are immense. Achie🌌ving such success makes all the hard work worthwhile.

Danilo Petrucci said that it was encouღragemen𓆉t from him that stopped the Barni team from skipping Assen altogether.

“Barni w🅠as not really happy to race without me, and I said ‘No, come on, try𓆉 some young rider,’ and he [Marco Barnabo] had already in mind Nicholas [Spinelli].

“I’ve been really happy for Barni, for Nicholas who is really a clever guy♊ and a good rider.

“I immediately sent a 🦩message to Marco and I said ‘This has been really our lucky week,’ because I was escaping from death, and after 10 days he won the first race in a very particular way. I don’t believe in a lot of things, bu❀t something crazy happened.”