WSB: Lowes takes maiden victory in Brno

Alex Lowes was thrilled to take his maiden World Superbike victory in a dramatic race in Brno yesterday.

Just two weeks after his team-mate took Yamaha’s first World Superbike wins since 2011, Lowes stormed to the win at the Czech circuit after Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes crashed out of the race.

The British rider has admitted it was hard to see his team-mate take the PATA Yamaha squad’s first wins, especially at his home round, but getting his head down, Lowes would come out on top in Brno to cross the line ahead of van der Mark in second.

“The first thing I need to say is a massive thanks to Yamaha, to the team and especially Paul who believed in me and brought me here from BSB,” he said after the race.

“All the guys worked so hard to give me what I wanted on the bike. For me to win and Michael to come second for a Yamaha 1-2 is fantastic. On a personal level I’m so happy, Donington was hard to take, not to take anything away from Michael but it was tough for me to accept as I wanted to be the one to get the first win for the team as I felt like I’ve put so much into the project.

“The bike worked really well for me today, I really enjoyed the race, which is not easy when it’s so hot and slippery! I focused on being as smooth and consistent as I could be and now I’m over the moon. A massive thank you to Yamaha, I feel honoured to be part of this project and now we need to keep trying to win more races!”