The 34^th trip to the TT Assen Circuit for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is in the books! The field put on a spectacle of a Pirelli Dutch Round, including Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team), who, while he wasn’t able to get onto the podium, he took home two P5s, and had by far the best points takeaway of the riders not atop a Ducati Panigale V4R.

Starting Race 1 from P6 thanks to a 1’32.960s effort in the Tissot Superpole, Lowes got a good start to his weekend as he finished the first lap two places ahead in P4 after Danilo Petrucci (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Xavi Vierge (Pata Maxus Yamaha) fell farther back on the opening lap. From there, Alex Lowes fought with an old rival, Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team), after the Spaniard made his way through to P4 on the run into Turn 1. After losing the position, Lowes hung with the two-time World Champion until Lap 14, when he lost nearly two and a half seconds as rain began to fall once again, and he was unable to come back from such a margin. The #22 got his revenge on the Ducati rider early on in the Tissot Superpole Race, as he again shot up to P4 by Lap 2, this time making his way past the #9 and later past #97 and Bautista in quick succession near the end of the second lap. He held his P4 ahead of the #19 well for most of the race, but after closing up the gap, Bautista used the straight-line power of the Panigale to overtake Lowes on the run into Turn 1 at the beginning of Lap 8. Lowes clung to his rear wheel, desperate to make a decisive move, but had no such opportunity, finishing the race in P5 just a tenth behind Bautista.

REAR WHEEL WOES: “I was really struggling with the rear of the bike… We need to analyse it more”

Sunday Afternoon’s Race 2 was the final shot for the #22 to get back on the podium at Assen for the first time in two seasons. He again enjoyed a strong jump of off the line past Vierge and while he lost P4 to Bautista again on Lap 3 in the final chicane, as the race went on, he lost more and more positions as he was struggling with the rear wheel of his bike; first to Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team), then Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven). As the race progressed into the final laps, he lost further positions to Xavi Vierge and Danilo Petrucci on Lap 14, then Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) and Tarran Mackenzie (MGM Optical Express Racing) to finish his tumble in P11.

On his Race 2 struggles, Alex Lowes said: “It’s been a positive weekend in general, Race 2 started like the other races with a good start, good first laps, and then we encountered a problem, I was really struggling with the rear of the bike and to lean it over, I kept having big slides. Unfortunately, it really affected my pace, and eventually we just dropped down. I don’t really know why it was happening. We need to analyse it more; it’s a shame to end the weekend with a difficult race, because we were in the mix with the Ducatis, and it was a shame that we had that issue. I can’t be disappointed with the weekend, we’ve been fast, I’ve given everything every lap, we’ve been fast, we just need to be a bit better next time.”

STAYING IN THE FIGHT: “We’ve just got to try to improve, to try to get a bit better and maximise ourselves to get a bit closer to the Ducatis”

Lowes has plenty to hang his hat on so far this season, but he’s keenly aware of the uphill battle that non-Ducati riders seem to be facing this season. He, however, is more focused on factors within his control, such as the struggles he had with the rear of his bike during Race 2. If he can get a handle on those issues, good news is on the way for the Englishman, as the Balaton Park Circuit is up next, a circuit where the Ducati riders won’t be able to take as much of an advantage of their bike’s top-end power.

On his weekend overall, Alex Lowes said: “You can’t take it away from the Ducati riders, they’re doing a good job, we’ve just got to try to improve, to try to get a bit better and maximise ourselves to get a bit closer to them. Certainly, I felt like I was going to be able to fight with them this weekend, and the earlier races where I could, that was enjoyable, but not much fun in the last race. I need to try to improve, the guys need to try to improve, and we’ll try to do a bit better in Balaton.”

Tune in next round, kicking off on May 1^st with the WorldSBK VideoPass!