In dry but often overcast conditions Sunday’s Donington races went to their full scheduled distances, and were conducted in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
In the ten-lap ‘Sprint Race’ Lowes was fifth, after starting from ninth place. From a second row launch in Race Two Alex was an early fourth placed runner, easing past Scott Redding on lap five. He held his podium position to the flag after 23 intense laps of full concentration at a very high pace. The top three riders set an incredible pace and were lapping in the 1’26 bracket for the majority of the final race.
Bassani had some issues in the Sprint Race, which culminated in a fall at Turn Four on lap two. He recovered well to put in a hard-fought tenth in Race Two. He had started from 16th place on the grid, due to his Superpole Race no-score.
Both Sunday races were won by Toprak Razgatlioglu, but Lowes’ two podiums and three strong points scores in all made this his second best weekend of the season - eclipsed only by his two race wins and a fourth place at the opening round in Australia.
Alex reached even more career milestones with his Race Two third place. This was his 20th Kawasaki podium and the 40th of his overall WorldSBK career to date. Race Two was also Alex’s 300th race start in WorldSBK.
In the WorldSBK championship rankings, after five of 12 rounds, Lowes is fourth with 165 points and Bassani 12th with 50 points.
The WorldSBK paddock will now decamp, with some haste, to reassemble in the Czech circuit of Autodrom Most in a few days time. The sixth round of the championship will be held there between 19-21 July.
Alex Lowes, stated: “In the Superpole Race this morning, with less fuel on board and some riders going with the ‘X’ rear tyre, everybody was fast. From third or fourth to 15th, almost everybody had the same speed. So, it is quite stressful. If you did not attack you got attacked! It was quite difficult because I was tenth on the first lap and it was hard to make passes. But, I was fifth at the end and that helped me to move up one grid row for Race Two. In the final race I got stuck behind Scott Redding, who was trying to go away, but was probably sliding a bit more than me. I tried to make the move and passed him, but up ahead Nicolo Bulega did a great job in second place. He was so consistent. Every time I gained a bit he had enough in his pocket to pull away. It was a little bit of a boring race in terms of action but we were on the limit all the same - doing 1’26s lap times. I am happy with the second podium and I think we had a good strong weekend, despite starting back a bit on the grid. I am happy enough with the weekend.”
Axel Bassani, stated: “In the Superpole Race we had some technical problems and we only completed the first lap. Race Two was better but it was difficult to start from the back. I think we had quite good pace but I lost a little bit of time in the last five or six laps. The earlier pace was around the same as the riders in sixth or seventh position. I had a better feeling with the bike, for sure, in Race Two but we need to improve in some places. We will stay positive and I want to say thank you to the team for continuing to work and for the good job they did this weekend. We will race again together soon in Most.”
Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was 18th Superpole race and 19th in Race Two.
2024 KRT Rider WorldSBK Statistics
Alex Lowes:
2024: Races: 15, Wins 2, Podiums 6, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 4 (3 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 40 (20 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 1 (0 for Kawasaki)
Axel Bassani:
2024: Races: 15, Wins 0, Podiums 0, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 0 (0 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 6 (0 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 0 (0 for Kawasaki)
8 x Riders’ Championships (Scott Russell 1993, Tom Sykes 2013, Jonathan Rea 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020), 1 x EVO Riders’ Championship (David Salom 2014)
6 x Manufacturers’ Championships (Ninja ZX-10R 2015 & 2016, Ninja ZX-10RR 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020)
5 x Teams’ Championships (KRT/Provec Racing 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019)
Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
Total Kawasaki Race Wins: 180 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Podiums: 548 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 108 – second overall
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