BbKRT Riders Take Strong Resul...

The bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team took part in the Tissot Superpole Qualifying session and then a red-flagged and restarted Race One on Saturday, 5 September, with Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani earning fifth and seventh place finishes, respectively.

As Superpole Qualifying got underway at the 4.411km-long Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours venue in France, Alex Lowes would secure a second row start after setting the sixth best time, while his BbKRT team-mate would have a more difficult experience and end up 17th on the 20-rider grid.

The first Magny-Cours race, scheduled for 21 laps, ended up being run over only 12, when red flags were shown to halt the action on safety grounds after a big crash. The restart was called once the track was ready for racing again, but it proved to be more like a sprint race than a regular full WorldSBK contest.

The riders started the ‘real’ race from where they had finished the cancelled one, putting Lowes fourth on the grid and Bassani a much improved ninth.

On the restart, Alex was in competition with the off-podium riders for much of the race and ended up splitting two Independent riders on Ducati machinery, by finishing in a highly respectable fifth place.

Bassani made the most of the new bike settings his team had installed on his bimota KB998 Rimini machine before the red-flagged race, and he moved up from ninth to an eventual seventh position, scoring good championship points for his efforts. Full points were awarded for each finishing position, despite the race distance being cut from 21 laps to 12.

The final two Magny Cours races - the ten-lap Superpole Race and a 21-lap Race Two - will take place on Sunday, 6 September.

Alex Lowes, stated: “I think before the red flag I had got myself in a good position with ten laps to go, so maybe I could have put some pressure on my brother Sam in the last part of the race and see if I could keep the pace. But I think he had some lap time in the pocket. In the restart I felt OK but it was difficult. It was too easy for them to pass me, and difficult for me to pass them back. I felt like I rode well, made no mistakes, and I think we are doing a good job as a team and working really hard. I think yesterday only Sam and I did a race simulation in practice - over 18 laps - so we are putting the effort in to try to get closer to the Ducatis, try to make small steps. I think we are doing a good job but it is a little bit of a frustrating time at the minute.”

Axel Bassani, stated: “This morning, like yesterday, I did not have a good-good feeling with the bike so I was struggling a lot under braking and turning. Superpole was not good and we started from P17. That is really near the back of the grid. For the first race of the weekend we made a big change on the bike so I went into Race One not knowing what was going to happen. From the first laps I felt a little bit better and recovered a lot of positions, so after seven laps I was in P9. Then there was a red flag, so I restarted from P9 and in the end we finished in P7. I think going P17 to P7 is a really good result. We fixed our weekend a little bit and took some points, so this is important. We will continue to work, we will hopefully improve something for tomorrow and we will continue to fight.”