106 amcn.com.au
me into the right, he goes in
there too fast and my bike never
changes angle.”
Sykes continued in that race –
Rea gave him ironic handclaps
as he went by the crash corner
the next lap – but Sykes was to
fall on his own just three laps
later. He got going again, but he
would finish out of the points.
Rea said of the crash, “He
drove into the side of me, it is
clear to see from his onboard
footage that he completely hit
the side of my bike and side
of my body.”
With all the highly public
incidents to replay and argue
over, it was almost easy to miss
the fact that the second race
was won by yet another rider
who had never won a WorldSBK
race before; Alex Lowes (Pata
Yamaha WorldSBK). The
Englishman had to watch his
teammate Michael van der
Mark take his first career win at
Donington Park last time out,
and then make it a double at
Lowes’ home circuit a day later.
It was imperative to Lowes to
redress that imbalance in their
respective career records, andhe did so in Race 2 with a cool
head that the younger Lowes
had not demonstrated at all
times in his early career.
The 2018 Lowes has scored
points in every race, and is
now just three points behind
Melandri in the championship.
It took 118 WorldSBK races to
take his first win.
“I think I am the only rider to
finish every race in the points
this year. So it is a step for me
in the consistency side of it.
If I can just get the last bit of
comfort with the bike we can
be really strong every weekend.
But it is great to get the first win
and I really enjoyed it.”
The Race 2 podium was
completely different to Race
1’s, as Lowes led home van der
Mark, and the other factory
Ducati, ridden by Chaz Davies.
The Dutchman and Welshman
came good after tough first
races, with VDM nearly 12
seconds from the win in a
highly disturbed and thrice-
started eventual 16-lap Race 1.
Davies was 17 seconds down
on Rea, and eighth.
Still not able to find theset-up and feel he used to
such great effect in previous
races, Davies is still second
overall. He came into Brno
miles behind Rea, and he left
one point further behind but
the combination of his eighth
podium and Rea’s no score
reduced Rea’s advantage on
Saturday of 81 points to a still-
dominant 65.
Behind the podiums, VDM
and Lowes ended Race 1 fourth
and fifth, with Eugene Laverty
(Milwaukee Aprilia) sixth in the
opener, and then fourth in the
second.
The second race went to the
finish, but the first race was
red flagged when the air-fence
burst, and then a problem
with the starting lights caused
a melee in the restart. A third
start was handled well by most,
especially Rea, who went on to
win his epic 60th race.
Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee
Aprilia) placed seventh in Race
1; fifth in Race 2, for more
points. There was no amazing
podium for Toprak Razgatlioglu
(Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)
this weekend, as front-endslides plagued him, but 10th in
Race 1 still made him the top
Independent rider. Michael
Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati
Junior team) was sixth in Race
2, and top Independent.
According to his team
manager, Leon Camier is still
only 80 per cent fit after his
big crash at Motorland. But he
scored well again, in ninth and
seventh. Loris Baz was fast in
qualifying on his Gulf Althea
BMW, and eighth in Superpole
2, but his racedays failed to
convert with a crash and
restart to 18th in Race 1, and
then 11th in Race 2.
Xavi Fores (Barni racing
Ducati) was well off his best
form again, 14th in Race 1 and
eighth in Race 2, poor rewards
for a rider who scored three
podiums in the first three
rounds as a privateer. He is
still closer to the top guys than
the rest in the points, but he
needs to find a cure for his mid-
season ‘yips’ soon.
In the championship, Rea has
270 points, Davies 205, van der
Mark 196, Sykes 179, Melandri
157 and Lowes 154.race
report
“It’s great to get
the first win, I
really enjoyed it”
- Lowes
Round 07 Brno, Czech Republic – 8-10 June 2018 World Superbike Championship