Sam Lowes wins world supersport title

Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) clinched his first ever world title in Magny-Cours, France on Sunday, October 6, after his second place behind Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki) in the supersport race.

The 23-year-old from Lincoln in England rode a superb race with no tactics involved, even though he just needed to finish in the points to be the new world supersport champion.

“I’m very happy and want to say a massive thank you to Yamaha and to everybody involved in getting me here. From when I first rode the R6 in Jerez and joined the team I felt a great feeling and I knew we could fight for the championship,” said Lowes. “To feel it and do it are two different things so I’m very happy to be world champion.

“Today’s race was great fun; sometimes it’s nice to be in a battle and take your mind off the bigger picture. I enjoyed that race a lot. I’d like to say a massive thank you to Kenan; he’s a great rider, I classify him as a friend and I respect him a lot for this season. Thank you for the fight! I also want to thank everyone who has got me into the position I am in today.”

The supersport race was red-flagged during the final lap following the crash suffered by Christian Iddon (ParkinGO MV Agusta Corse), who highsided while running in third place. The English rider was then granted a reprieve: final results were based on the previous lap.

WORLD SUPERBIKE
The battle for the ultimate prize in world superbike is still open – but only just -- after a resounding double victory to Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team). Sykes holds a 38pt lead over Eugene Laverty and 39 over Sylvain Guintoli.  The factory Aprilia riders completed the podium on both occasions at Magny-Cours, even after a dramatic race two finale.

In race one, Sykes led from lights to the red flag that was waved during lap 19, following the crash suffered by Australian Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini Kawasaki). The Brit was able to pull away from the rest of the field, except for Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), in the early stages of the race. Sykes' pace, though, was too fast even for the Frenchman, as the Kawasaki rider managed to put a safe margin between himself and his rival as the race progressed.

Laverty crossed the line a lonely third to complete the podium ahead of Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia), Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) and Michele Pirro (Team Ducati Alstare), who rode an incredible maiden race.

In the first half of the race, Pirro was involved in a spectacular five-way battle for sixth place, along with Pata Honda riders Michel Fabrizio and Leon Haslam, Toni Elias (Red Devils Aprilia) and Vincent Philippe (FIXI Crescent Suzuki). Elias, who made his WSBK debut last month in Turkey, lost control of his Aprilia RSV4 at turn 13 during the 16th lap, taking out Philippe in the process.

Sykes then made it a clean sweep thanks to a dominant win in race two. He got off to the perfect start and steadily pulled away, to place a considerable gap between himself and the chasing duo of Laverty and Guintoli.

As slight drizzle started to fall on the French circuit, the factory Aprilia riders both crashed at turn five causing a red flag situation that led to an early end of the race. They successfully made it back to the pits and, as final results were based on the last lap completed by all riders -- the 21st -- they finished second and third respectively.

Giugliano ended up fourth ahead of Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet), Philippe (FIXI Crescent Suzuki), substitute rider for Leon Camier, and Melandri. Lorenzo Lanzi (Mesaroli Transports A.S. Ducati) scored an encouraging ninth in what has been his WSBK return behind Elias, with Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) completing the top 10.

Technical problems ruled Haslam and Fabrizio out of the race, while Jules Cluzel (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) was able to jump back on his GSX-R after a crash on lap 13 to finish 14th.

The season finale will be held at Jerez, Spain, from October 18-20.

For full results and standings, visit www.worldsbk.com/en/season.html.