Moto2: Damage control for Lowes

Last weekend’s Moto2 round in Catalunya saw title contender Sam Lowes happy to take a solid top six place away from the weekend, after admitting that the result was damage limitation after struggling throughout the weekend with a combination of factors.

First and foremost of the weekend’s problems for the former World Supersport champion was the loss of a fellow competitor, admitting after the race that the death of Luis Salom during Friday’s free practice had hit him hard.

“The weekend was a disaster from Friday, for obvious reasons. It’s tough, trying to keep the same focus and doing the same job after that. My bike wasn’t good enough, I never felt comfortable, and I never clicked with the new layout.

“I didn’t race, I rode around and still came home with ten points. I’ve finished the first seven races, and that’s the longest run of my career apart from my title-winning year. I couldn’t go with the leaders, but I could have easily crashed too.”

But despite the struggles of the weekend, Lowes still remains in a strong position in the championship hunt. With reigning champion taking valuable points away from title leader Alex Rins by beating him for the race victory, the battle has closed right up again – and Lowes is in the thick of it.

“I’m eight points off the championship, and yeah, Zarco is close behind me – but what do you expect? He’s a world champion. Everyone at the start of the year picked Zarco and Rins as the title favourites, and after seven races I’m in between them and there’s ten points separating all of us.”