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Britain’s Alex Lowes throws down the challenge
He may be a world superbike rookie and on his first visit to Phillip Island, but that hasn’t stopped Briton Alex Lowes setting the fastest time in practice ahead of the opening round of the 2014 Superbike World Championship (WSBK) this Sunday.
Lowes put his Suzuki at the top of the timesheets in today’s second 45-minute practice session – first practice was practically a non-affair due to inclement weather – and then stayed there despite the usually flurry of fast laps at the end of proceedings.
It was a sensational ‘official’ world superbike debut for Lowes, but no huge surprise after he crafted together a pre-season that was full of speed and vigour.
Lowes’ best lap was 1min31.100sec, only a fraction in fr0nt of Aprilia’s Marco Melandri (1:31.137), and then followed by Ducati’s Davide Guigliano (1:31.205) and Kawasaki’s world champion Tom Sykes (1:31.395) – four manufacturers sharing the spoils.
Australian pair Glenn Allerton (BMW, 1:33.118) and Matt Walters (Kawasaki, 1:35.810) — both 11th hour replacements for injured internationals – were 15th and 22nd respectively on their EVO-spec machines.
Allerton was impressive, finishing right behind the fastest EVO riders – Ducati’s Niccolo Canepa and Kawasaki pair David Salom and Fabien Foret.
There were two massive highside crashes in the session, with Sykes’ teammate Loris Baz coming unstuck at turn 12, and minutes later Chaz Davies was catapulted over his factory Ducati at turn nine. Both riders were unhurt.
Jonathan Rea (Honda, 1:31.436) was fifth fastest from Eugene Laverty (Suzuki, 1:31.448).
The third practice session will be held at 9:45am tomorrow, with the fastest 20 times across the three practice sessions determining the riders who will battle for final grid positions in Superpole at 3:00pm.
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By Sam Tickell, February 2014
Footage courtesy of FIM. Press Release by Phillip Island WSBK
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