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Lowes Second In The Superpole Race At Cremona
Alex Lowes had two strong finishes in the Sunday races at the new WorldSBK venue of Cremona, thanks to a second place in the Superpole Race and a fifth place in Race Two. Axel Bassani found little fortune at his home round on Sunday and finished up 11th in the morning race and a non-finisher in Race Two.
After his fall on Saturday Lowes had a redemptive second place result in the ten lap Tissot Superpole Race on Sunday morning. He was ranked third early on and was pushed to fourth for a time as riders with stickier SCQ tyre choices than Lowes’ SCX-A development race tyre found strong early pace.
As Lowes’ tyre choice proved to be the better one over all ten laps he then re-passed Nicolo Bulega and finally long-time second place rider Andrea Iannone to take a strong runner-up spot, and his 11th podium of the season. This was Alex’s 25th podium visit since he joined Kawasaki and the 45th of his WorldSBK career.
Bassani, starting in 12th place after Superpole qualifying on Saturday, finished one place higher after ten intense ‘sprint’ race laps, inside a group of eight riders competing as one loose rolling group.
In Race Two, held over the scheduled 23 laps, the weather was finally bright and warm, allowing the riders to choose between two versions of the SCX tyre. Lowes opted for the SCX-A development tyre and would finish the race in fifth position.
Alex chased the podium finishers throughout and having held fourth position for much of the race he only relinquished it unwillingly on the final two laps.
Bassani had an early Race Two contact with another rider and despite getting back into the action at high pace, he was to fall on lap two. He headed back into pitlane and subsequently retired.
After a dramatic first weekend in Cremona Lowes is still fourth overall in the title fight, with 255 points. Axel is now 15th with 80 points.
There is now a very quick turnaround for all inside the KRT squad as the next round takes place at Motorland Aragon, in Spain, between 27-29 September.
