Tuesday, May 31 2011
Alex Lowes concluded his outstanding weekend aboard the MSS Colchester Kawasaki with a misfortune in the wet following two strong performances aboard full BSB spec ZX-10R machinery at Thruxton today, with seventh in the first race and a crash while chasing for the lead in race two.
Lowes, who stepped into the team earlier this week, set a high precedent for himself in yesterday’s qualifying after progressively improving his time in dry conditions on his first ever outing aboard Kawasaki machinery to take his, and the team’s first ever pole position ahead of today’s races.
With mixed conditions in the build up to this morning’s proceedings, Alex wisely chose a full wet set-up for the opening race of the day. Lowes, who was standing in for the injured Stuart Easton this weekend, didn’t get the best of starts but soon worked his way to the front of the pack aboard his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R. A lack of visibility and the super-slippery conditions saw the 20-year-old youngster drop back to eighth position, but a final spurt in the last few laps gave him a creditable seventh place finish.
In race two Alex, starting from row three of the grid, got a steady start and made some strong passes around the extra-wet Thruxton circuit; impressively carving his way from ninth to second place in a handful of laps. By lap five the Lincolnshire-man was chasing down race leader, Shane Byrne, when a little too much acceleration out of the final chicane in the slippery conditions a lap later caused the youngster to unfortunately crash out. While Alex is bitterly disappointed he couldn’t reward the team with the podium he feels he was capable of, it has been a strong outing all things considered. Alex will be making an announcement about his plans for the next few races during the next week.
Alex Lowes #22:
“I’m happy that on my first time on the bike I showed I have the speed with pole position and leading the first race but obviously I’m disappointed I crashed out of the second one. I’m still learning about the bike, and I just need to understand when to push and when to back off. I really wanted to do well for the team; they have had such a tough few weeks they deserved to be on the podium. The bike is fantastic, the team are great to work with and I’d like to say sorry to the whole team I couldn’t reward them with any trophies this weekend.”
