Alex Lowes fought a determined race to take tenth on his Voltcom Crescent Suzuki in the second outing at the Imola Circuit for the eni FIM Superbike World Championship Acerbis round in Italy.

A good start looked to have given Lowes what he needed to battle his Yoshimura-powered GSX-R in the top ten, before he was caught in the crash of Honda's Sylvain Guintoli, relegating him to the back of the field. His determination as resolute as ever, the British racer began his comeback, fighting his way through to 11th by lap nine to join the top ten for the final five laps.

The morning race had seen a similarly good start from Lowes, keeping him in the mid pack before running wide at turn six on the first lap. Regrouping in 16th to continue the fight, the red flag came out on the ninth lap after a turn 15 crash from Kawasaki's David Salom. A six lap sprint race concluded the morning's action as Lowes, taking to the grid in 13th, crossed the line in 12th, collecting 10 points from the day’s two races.

The home race, for both Voltcom Crescent Suzuki and Alex Lowes, now beckons as the team return to the UK in preparation for Donington Park in just two weeks’ time on Sunday 24th May.

“A difficult day but I tried my best in both races” Lowes admitted. “It’s frustrating that we haven’t made more improvements but we’re that far into it now that we just have to keep going, keep our heads down, work as hard as we can and see if we can go better at Donington. Obviously I will have the advantage that I know the track and I think it will be less critical on the electronics so I’m looking forward to Donington already. You have two choices when things aren’t going your way, you either give in or you keep working, keep doing your best, keep trying to improve the bike and see what happens, so that’s what we’re doing!”