Solid BbKRT Results Wrap Up Th...

The final day of race action at the Portimao WorldSBK round saw bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team riders, Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani, leave with two fourth-place finishes and two eighth-place finishes respectively.

Sunday 29 March delivered yet another warm and sunny day for all at Portimao to enjoy, with two WorldSBK races left to run at the 4.592km Portuguese circuit.

In the ten-lap Tissot Superpole Race, Lowes was eventually fourth, and just 0.380 seconds from a podium finish. Alex had put himself into third place at one stage before ending up fourth in what was an intense ten-lap contest in front of a strong local crowd.

In the second full-distance Race Two, run over 20 laps, Lowes finished an even closer 0.169 seconds from third position, and slightly frustrated to not quite be able to challenge for the final podium placing exiting the final corner onto the main straight.

Axel, from a tenth-place starting position, finished the Superpole Race in eighth position. He would repeat that eighth place in Race Two, but only after losing two positions late in the race due to a drop in tyre grip.

When looking at the results of all three WorldSBK races at Portimao, Alex scored three fourth-place race results, and Axel took three eighth places.

In the championship standings, after two rounds and six individual races, Bassani is now third overall, with 60 points. Lowes has moved up to fifth place, with 48 points.

Now that the Portimao round is complete, the next round will take place in northern Europe, at the classic Assen TT track, between 17-19 April.

Alex Lowes stated: “Yesterday I was sort of happy with fourth place, because I was a bit away from the podium. Today, to be so close, but not really have a proper attack for the podium, was a bit frustrating. After Australia, which is such a peculiar track, we maybe felt like it was a bit closer and that we had made more of a step. This weekend we needed to make a good qualifying, have a good start and be on the limit every lap to be in a position to challenge for the podium - which the bike does allow you to do. The strong part of the bike is that it is easier to ride, so you can ride it hard for 20 laps and put it in good positions in the tighter parts of the track. But, to race the bike, we are still missing a bit of performance. We made a change on the front of the bike for the Sunday races so I had a bit more confidence in stopping the bike. I tried my best and honestly, I enjoyed riding the KB998 Rimini. I think we did a good job but we can’t be really happy with fourth place, as we want to try to get a bit closer.”

Axel Bassani stated: “It has been a hard weekend and not like it was in Australia at the first round. Things were a little bit difficult but in the end we have been quite consistent, always inside the top ten. In the Superpole Race we recovered two positions and finished in P8. In Race Two the pace was quite good until six laps from the end, when I had a big drop from both tyres, front and rear. It was very difficult for me to push in the same way and I lost two positions, going from P6 to P8. I was not really happy, but in the end, after checking everything I have to be happy because I was in P8 in all the races. It would have been really easy to crash today, but we finished the races. So, we have to be positive and now try to focus on Assen.”