Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli threw up some dramatic racing action in race one, and Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) secured his second podium finish of the season following a spectacular final lap. Dutch team-mate Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) had a disappointing day in the Pirelli Riviera Di Rimini Round, after crashing out on the eighth lap after an issue with his rear.

Lowes equalled his best ever result in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, and despite him being lucky with the result, the British rider explains he was happy with his pace and feels he will be able to improve even more tomorrow.

“I am happy,” begins Lowes. “This weekend started off really tough for time with three crashes on Friday, and this track hasn’t given me a good feeling. I’ve been really struggling but in the race today I managed to get a decent start and I noticed the other guys were struggling too. But the main thing is that I hope the guys in front are alright, Michael – my team mate- has been doing a fantastic job all weekend and he deserves a lot more from that race. It’s nice to be up here and see our hard work pay off, maybe even without the guys crashing in front we would have been first of the next group, so it’s a really big step for us. I was quite happy and hopefully we can change the bike a bit tonight and get closer to the battle.”

On the other side of the garage, van der Mark explains his frustration with the result today, however he takes away his impressive race pace and hopes to come out fighting on Sunday for Race Two.

Van der Mark explained his difficult day: “I am really disappointed because leading the race was not something I expected and to have such a good pace. We knew we could be consistent but I didn’t expect to be leading the race and with for such a long time so I was happy with the race and with the pace, I knew I was struggling a bt but now I know I lost the rear so im really disappointed about that but I was really fast in the first part of the race so we can be happy about that and see if we can do the same tomorrow . I think we are quite strong with the warm track, there are some small things we need to change and I think we can be really strong.”

Keep up with the Yamaha team’s pace in what is set to be a dramatic race two, which will see them fighting from the third and fourth row around the testing Rimini circuit.