2024 World Superbike Assen - Race (1) Results

Prior to the race getting underway heavy rain fell once again at Assen following a wet FP3 and Superpole.

But that wasn’t the case for long as blue skies arrived just in time for the start of the race, creating even more confusion for riders and teams.

• Remy Gardner aiming to get first WorldSBK podium in Race 1 at Assen 
• Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista discuss Race 1 strategy 

Most of the riders elected for slick tyres however, the intermediates were the tyre to be on as Nicholas Spinelli made a big impact early on.

The stand-in for Danilo Petrucci took an early lead and cleared off as Sam Lowes dove into pit lane at the end of lap one.

A 13-second lead was created by Spinelli by the end of lap two as Andrea Locatelli, who also had an intermediate front, began making progress.

Spinelli’s lead continued to grow as he pulled clear of Axel Bassani by over 24 seconds, however, the track was starting to dry quickly.

Trying to keep pace with Alvaro Bautista, Andrea Iannone made a mistake coming out of turn two as he highsided off his Panigale V4 R machine.

With seven laps gone, Spinelli’s intermediate tyre advantage was over as Bassani, Razgatlioglu and Bautista all lapped quicker.

Bautista then set a new fastest lap of the race as he followed Razgatlioglu in overtaking Bassani.

A mistake from Razgatlioglu at the beginning of lap nine allowed Bautista to gain second place at turn one.

With nine laps to go Spinelli’s lead was down to 11 seconds as Bautista and Razgatlioglu began to drop the group behind them.

At the conclusion of lap 14, Razgatlioglu produced a brilliant move on Bautista which was for second, but soon to be first as Spinelli was just a couple of corners ahead.

However, more drama followed as a red flag was deployed beyond the two-third race distance, giving Spinelli victory in his first Superbike race.

The red flag was waved due to oil on circuit, which was released by Locatelli’s Yamaha.