THAT WINNING FEELING!
Lowes grabs maiden victory after dominant Czech ride
It was difficult to separate the delight from the relief and the champagne from the tears after 27-year-old Alex Lowes blasted his Pata Yamaha to his maiden WSB win in the heat of Brno on Sunday. Yamaha has waited almost seven years for a race win with the R1 – and that came just two weeks ago when Dutchman Michael van der Mark claimed a Donington Park double. With Lowes winning in Brno, the blue bikes have won three of the last four races. Lowes is the first new British winner since Chaz Davies in 2012, winning in his 118th start which marks the second-longest wait for a maiden victory.
Coming from second on the grid, Lowes overhauled van der Mark and then managed his tyres perfectly to win by 2.1 seconds. “It’s mega to get my first win,” Lowes told MCN while holding back the tears in Parc Fermé.
“It was like a kick in the nuts when Michael won twice on the same bike at my home track. The pressure was on. But I feel quite proud of myself. I’ve bounced back and won.”
Yamaha themselves came under intense fire earlier this season. The wins promised over the winter didn’t come despite an insistence that they should benefit most from new technical rules aimed at balancing performance across the grid. There was a double podium in Thailand but both Lowes and van der Mark were fighting for their futures, and there was pressure from the top that Yamaha had to win in 2018.
“To win your first World Superbike race is such a fantastic feeling,” said Lowes “The pit board showing P1 is the best feeling in the world. The reason I get up every day is to keep improving and put myself in this position. It’s clear the team and both myself and Michael are slowly getting closer. It’s been coming for 12 or 18 months. I’m really happy with all the guys and the project. I’m excited about continuing to move it forward.” Lowes’ future is likely to be confirmed soon. Speaking at Imola, manager and 2003 WSB Champion Neil Hodgson revealed no contract will be sorted until June at the earliest: “Alex wants to continue the Yamaha journey. He has been there since Day 1 and they have come a long way together. It would be a shame not to see it through,” he said. Alex Lowes was the youngest ever British Superbike Champion when he took the title in 2013. He is now the 74th rider in history to win a World Superbike race and only the 14th from Great Britain.