When Alex Lowes moved from Yamaha to Kawasaki, while Toprak Razgatlioglu took the opposite path, we expected the Briton to have a difficult warm-up within the Kawasaki Racing Team, which is essentially geared towards Jonathan Rhea. Tom Sykes had to give up in front of his compatriot, and the resistance of Leon Haslam evaporated over time.
British Superbike Champion on Honda in 2013, the brother of Sam Lowes has only competed in one GP in 125 cc, with a retirement at the British Grand Prix in 3 on a Honda from Double Vision Racing, and two races in MotoGP with the thirteenth place at Silverstone and a retirement at Misano on a Yamaha Tech 2006 in 3 replacing Bradley Smith.
It is in Superbike that he mainly developed with two seasons at Suzuki in 2014 and 2015, then four at Yamaha. He won his first victory in 2018 at Brno on Yamaha, then the second recently at Phillip Island at the start of the season on Kawasaki.
Here is Alex leader of the Superbike World Championship with 51 points, while his teammate Johnny Rea is only fourth with 32. However, he keeps his feet on the ground: “I am aware that we have only done one race, that the season is long and that it is easy to be very happy and motivated when you have just arrived in a new team and that the first weekend end went very well » he said in an interview on Instagram.
Alex couldn't have asked for a better start: “It's good that before the unfortunate break we achieved good results. I'm very happy to have these guys around me who have won so much. All my energy is focused on being at the top of the standings at the end of the season. »
For the past three years, Lowes has shared the Yamaha booth with Michael van der Mark and said about it: “He was the most difficult teammate because we were very close and every weekend we pushed each other to try and do better than the other. It may be difficult to beat the guy I have on my side now, but I can't wait to challenge him. »
And if Alex could choose any rider in Superbike history as his teammate, who would it be? Lowes has no doubt: “Johnny, because he did better than everyone else I faced and he was the fastest. He is there, on the same bike as me, and he is part of the same team. »
“I see what he does and as a driver I have the chance to learn from him and I want to try to beat him. That's all I could have wanted. If I had the choice, I would stay where I am now. »
In 2019, both current Kawasaki riders crashed at Jerez, and Lowes said: “Rea had made a mistake and what happened happened. These are things that happen. So far we had had a good race."
“Our relationship is excellent. He is a very good person. I wouldn't say we're best friends off the track, but we get along well at events that concern us and there's a lot of respect between us."
“We get along absolutely well, I think it's always good to have a good atmosphere in the team and we hope to continue like that. »
Photos © Kawasaki, Lowes
