Silverstone BSB: Lowes takes race one win

Alex Lowes has claimed victory in the opening British Superbike Championship race at Silverstone on Sunday, coming home ahead of Shane Byrne and Michael Laverty.

Having qualified on pole position, Lowes was in imperious form and once he’d grabbed the lead on the third lap, he gradually pulled clear for a commanding win.
 
It was Laverty who grabbed the holeshot from Lowes, Byrne and Josh Brookes and the order remained the same until lap three when Lowes took the lead at Stowe whilst Tommy Bridewell began to move forward as reigning Champion Tommy Hill did the opposite.

An eventful fifth lap saw Byrne take the lead and Lowes drop from 2nd to 4th as Bridewell made his move but Byrne then missed his braking point and overshot at Brooklands.

As the pack reorganised themselves, Lowes was now back in the lead from Bridewell, Laverty and Brookes with James Westmoreland now up to fifth as Byrne regrouped in sixth.
 
As the race entered its second half, Lowes and Bridewell began to edge away from Laverty with Westmoreland now the man on the move in fourth, championship leaders Brookes and Byrne in unfamiliar fifth and sixth place positions.

By lap nine, Lowes had opened up an impressive two second lead over new second place man Laverty with just half a second between him and Brookes, who had been pushed back to sixth by Byrne.
 
Lowes and his WFR Honda were far and away the quickest combination on track and, lapping a second a lap quicker than his rivals, he wasn’t going to be denied his debut BSB win.

He duly crossed the line five seconds clear of Byrne who managed to break free of the squabble behind and get the better of Laverty at the end of the Hangar Straight on the final lap.

The battle for fourth went all the way to the chequered flag though and it was Brookes who prevailed from Westmoreland and Bridewell.
 
Hill’s woes continued as he could only manage seventh, almost 12 seconds adrift of race winner Lowes, just ahead of the Padgetts Honda duo of Luca Scassa and Ian Lowry and Chris Walker.
 
British Superbike Championship race 1 (14 laps)
1 Alex Lowes (Honda)
2 Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) +5.021s
3 Michael Laverty (Honda) +5.4541s
4 Josh Brookes (Suzuki) +8.437s
5 James Westmoreland (Honda) +8.716s
6 Tommy Bridewell (BMW) +9.493s
7 Tommy Hill (Yamaha) +11.882s
8 Luca Scassa (Honda) +13.893s
9 Ian Lowry (Honda) +14.124s
10 Chris Walker (Kawasaki) +19.507s