Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) had waited a long time for victory in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. Almost four years on from his last win, the #22 returned to the top step at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit as he took a stunning win in the Tissot Superpole Race and also in Race 2 after an audacious last lap pass during the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round, and his emotions were visible for all to see as he celebrated his first and second victories of the season.

Lowes had been quick throughout testing, at Jerez, Portimao and Phillip Island, and converted that to third on the grid. He narrowly missed out on a rostrum in Race 1 but battled brilliantly against Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) in the 10-lap Superpole Race to earn victory, his first win in three years, 11 months and 24 days, and Kawasaki’s first dry win since the 2022 Superpole Race at Assen. He celebrated on his in-lap with twin brother Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) as well as in parc ferme, with Sam taking a top-ten finish.

Immediately after the race in parc ferme, Alex said: “Honestly, it’s been a long time since that last win, and I’ve been working. I was dead emotional; I was crying on the in lap. The guys have done a fantastic job all weekend. I’m really, really, really happy.”

Race 2 was a thrilling affair with Alex Lowes able to win again, despite trailing heading into the last lap. It had been a three-way fight between Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), himself and Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) on the final lap of a red-flagged and shortened race, but Locatelli dropped out of contention at Turn 4. The #55 was attempting to make a move on Lowes but ran wide and then had a highside crash which took him out of the race. Lowes was second behind Bautista, but an almost unbelievable move around the outside of Turn 9 gave the Brit the lead which he held onto by just 0.048s.

Reacting to his Sunday double, and that incredible last lap, Alex explained: “It was an unbelievable day! The second race was chaos from the start. It was a little bit delayed, and in the first part of the race Toprak’s bike blew up. I was nearly off track, I did well to stay on. Then, Jonathan had a big crash, so I hope he’s okay. I was dropping back a little bit, but just before the red flag, I had a couple of good sectors to get back on my brother. I had some good speed, and the temperature was down a little bit. My focus in the restart was to make a good start, put myself in the first three or four positions. I knew Toprak wasn’t there, and when he is, you have to ride a little bit more defensively because he’s always going to have a pass. Once I got settled into the race, I was struggling to stay with Bautista a little bit and Michael.

“Locatelli passed me at Turn 4. He was going to hit the back of Bautista, so he went wide and then I managed to stay on the line, stay close to Alvaro because, in my head, I was thinking he was struggling to enter the corner because the grip was going. I knew I could be really fast through Turn 8 and into Turn 9. This was my chance to pass him and try to stop the bike into Turn 10 and 11. I had a little plan, and it went quite well. In the end, I had a lot more grip than Alvaro which allowed me to make this pass.”

Can Lowes continue his imperious form into Barcelona? Find out using the WorldSBK VideoPass!