Lowes And Bassani Leave Balato...

bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team riders Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani each scored a sixth place on the final day of the eighth round of the WorldSBK championship, on Sunday 27 July.

Bassani took his best individual race result of the inaugural Balaton Park weekend in the Superpole Race on Sunday morning, while Lowes secured his most recent top six finish in the longer Race Two. Lowes had also taken a sixth in the full-distance Race One on Saturday.

The Balaton Park circuit - an all-new race venue used for the first time this season - had the honour of hosting the 1,000th race in WorldSBK history when the Superpole Race got underway at 11.00 CET.

After dry and generally hot conditions were in evidence through the first two days of action in Hungary, the Sunday morning warm-up session was wet, with the subsequent Superpole Race featuring track conditions that were neither fully dry nor fully wet at the start.

In this ‘sprint’ race, scheduled over the usual ten laps, tyre choice would prove to be particularly important for every rider in the field. Overnight rains had truly soaked the track surface, leading to a wet warm-up session, but things were drying out as the riders lined up for the race itself a couple of hours later. Axel chose an intermediate front and standard SCO slick rear, while Alex went for ‘inters’ front and rear.

Despite starting from the sixth row of the grid, Axel charged forward and was finally sixth in the race classification - making this one of his best performances of the year on the bimota KB998 Rimini. He scored four more championship points for his efforts in the Superpole Race.

Alex was running near the front at the 4.075km long Balaton Park circuit in the ‘sprint’ until he dropped back as the track dried out. He finished in 12th position.

The second and final full race of the unique Hungarian round was held in dry conditions, with Axel starting from sixth place and Alex from 12th.

Alex was able to move forward at pace and ended up securing another top six finish to add to his identical Saturday result.

Axel crossed the nine in eighth position but was eventually penalised with a single drop of position via a three-second penalty for not giving up enough time after he had taken an accidental shortcut. He was eventually classified in ninth place.

In the championship standings, after eight of 12 rounds, Alex is now eighth overall, with 105 points in total. Axel is 11th, having scored championship points in each of the three Balaton Park WorldSBK races.

The WorldSBK event will not take place for several weeks, when Magny Cours in France hosts Round Eight between 5-7 September.

Alex Lowes stated: “Two different races today. I missed an opportunity in the Superpole race. I should have been on slick tyres, but we went with intermediates. I think on slicks those would have been my sort of conditions. It was our decision and we didn’t make the right decision. We had no chance really as the track was drying really fast. My pace in the longer race was good, but it was hard to pass on this track, in general. So, starting in 12th place on the grid was not the easiest thing. I think I was 14th on lap one. To finish sixth in the race was a good ride. I passed a few people and enjoyed the race. I rode the bike with settings that were quite a bit different from yesterday, so we could learn a bit more. That was quite good. First time here at Balaton and I enjoyed the track. It was constant work all weekend to try and get the bike to work better. I think I rode well and taking three finishes and some good information means we can have a few weeks off now and then prepare for the last races of the year.”

Axel Bassani stated: “We have reached the end of the first WorldSBK round in Balaton and it has been a good weekend. I have enjoyed the people around the track; they are really good fans. Also the track is quite nice. I think we did two good races today, in P6 and finally P9. With both Sunday race finishes inside the top ten, that is really good. We were not starting near the front, so we made a really good recovery. We had some hard times but in the end we finished in a good way. Thank you to the team for all the effort that they put in this weekend, trying to give me the best solution on track. Now we will have some rest and after that will come the last four rounds of the season.”