Sam And Alex Lowes, Cadwell Park, June 15

Lincoln identical twin racers Sam and Alex Lowes, aged 12, were in race action at Cadwell at the weekend with Sam netting a double win in the Aprilia Superteen championship races with brother Alex close behind securing a fourth and fifth place finish after suffering mechanical problems with his bike.

Both boys who are first year students of the ACU Race Academy took in the Bemsee Nationwide Production 125 races on Saturday to give them more track time on the tricky club circuit at Cadwell and the experience certainly paid off as Sam took a solid fourth place in the opening race and a close second in the second encounter. Sam would have won the second race for sure as he had led for most of the eight laps before being passed by Kenny Gilbertson on the final lap after being baulked by a back-marker.

Alex was suffering with gearing problems with the bike intermittently jumping out of gear but he was still able to maintain eighth position in each of the two Bemsee races before switching engines for the more important Superteen races the following day.

Qualifying for the Superteen races took place on Sunday morning with Sam securing a front row start as second fastest rider while Alex, who was still experiencing problems with his 125cc Aprilia clinched the final place on the second row in eighth place.

Sam failed to take advantage of his front row position and was away to a bad start being sixth into the hairpin on the opening lap. Other riders were having trouble with the tight and tricky hairpin but Sam sailed through overtaking two riders on the turn before passing Mike Thompson for third place at Mansfield on lap two.

Back at the hairpin Sam made a move on James Rose and forged ahead to chase race leader Guy Sanders whom he caught and passed at Mansfield next time around.

Sam held the lead until lap six when Sanders went past on the approach to Mansfield. Both riders had pulled a gap on the rest of the field and Sam tucked in behind Sanders waiting for the opportunity to hit the front again. This came on the penultimate lap on the run into the hairpin where Sam nipped through and defended his racing line to the chequered flag to take his second victory in the series.

Alex was not so lucky as he was baulked by two riders who fell into his path at the hairpin. By the time he recovered he was down in 10th place and had to use all his skills to battle his way back into sixth place. The hairpin caused further problems when someone rammed into him causing him to drop back again but this time he managed to claw his way back to end the race in fourth place.

Race two saw Sam slow to get away but he took two riders into the hairpin on the first lap to move into third place. By the time he came round again he was third into the hairpin and first coming out. Once he had the lead Sam just got his head down and stayed ahead all the way to the chequered flag to take his first ever winning double and move to third in the overall standings.

Meanwhile Alex was eighth away at the start of race two but had a scare going into Park when the brakes failed on Matthew Bond’s bike and he missed his front end by inches.

Breathing a sigh of relief Alex chased and caught the group of riders just ahead engaging in a good battle with Mike Thompson, James Rose and Paul Fyson.

Although he got ahead on the corners they were able to pass him on the straights as the bike was still down on power but he maintained fourth place until the final lap when a back-marker impeded his progress allowing Fyson to grab the position. Alex crossed the finish line in fifth place to collect a further 11 championship points and move up to sixth in the points table.

The twins next race is in four weeks time at Snetterton in Norfolk where both riders will be going all out for victory, more so Alex who, although taking a podium in third place at Cadwell a few weeks ago has yet to step up onto the top step and notch up his first race win in the series.