The visit to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca concluded with Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team riders Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark finishing ninth and tenth respectively in Sunday’s Race 2.

Lowes recovered from a DNF in Race 1 to secure his hard-fought ninth place after a race-long duel with his Dutch teammate. Van der Mark crossed the line less than half a second behind Lowes in tenth to add to his eighth-place finish from Race 1.

The results from the GEICO US Round see Lowes and van der Mark go into the summer break in fifth and seventh in the championship standings respectively, separated by 19 points.

Lowes said of his Sunday ride, “It was a very difficult race. I didn't feel comfortable with the bike but after everything that we have experienced this weekend it was good to at least finish and get a result. I've really struggled with front-end confidence here at Laguna Seca and those 25-laps were very hard work but I did what I could. I couldn't push hard, it was a question of just riding as consistently as possible and trying to understand what we can do to improve our pace at this track in the future.”

“It is clear that as a team we haven't had the best setup this weekend, so now it's time to get some rest from the WorldSBK calendar and come back stronger and fighting for podiums, which is what we have already shown we can achieve, at the next race in Germany."

Lowes’ colleague Van der Mark also gave his perspective on Race 2, saying, “It was tough, I felt a had a good start but straight away from the first lap I didn't have a good feeling with my R1. It is quite strange because we changed a lot again for the race. It has been a tough weekend; the only really positive session was Saturday morning but then the track temperatures were a lot cooler. As soon as the temperature started rising we struggled a lot.”

“It is difficult to understand why we can do the same pace from the first to the last lap but not be quick enough at the start. We have to understand why this is and of course, we are not happy, but we will work hard during the break to ensure we come back fighting at the Lausitzring.”