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Lowes vs Rea: What did they say after Race 1’s tangle?

Saturday, 8 June 2019 16:57 GMT

The two British riders enjoyed a race-long battle that abruptly ended after a desperate move from the reigning champion!

In what was a controversial last lap between Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), the two riders have spoken about the collision and gave their viewpoints. Neither rider is particularly angry at the other, although Rea takes full responsibility for the crash which ended Lowes’ impressive string of point-scoring finishes.

Talking about the incident, Lowes stated: “This is the first time I’ve seen the crash, but I felt like I was little bit towards the inside. He has obviously just made a mistake on the last lap, he’s gone in too fast for the corner as you can see, but it’s racing, and it happens. It doesn’t help me now, it doesn’t get my points back, so I just need to focus on tomorrow and try and beat him; that would be the best way to make up for today.”

Jonathan Rea was unreservedly apologetic about the incident, saying: “At this point, I am deciding to go for the cut-back and go inside Alex. Unfortunately, at that point, his line was tightening, and I couldn’t put anymore stress on the front tyre, so I had to pick up my line and we came together. Like I said before, I am really sad to see this because it’s not nice to see another rider go down. I am really sorry to Alex that his race ended in this way.”

Watch more drama at the Acerbis Spanish Round continue tomorrow with the WorldSBK VideoPass!