The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team rounded off a superb weekend in Jerez by completing another double top-six finish in a dramatic restarted Race 2, on a gloriously sunny Sunday at the penultimate round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship. Alex Lowes rode one of his best races of the season, showing incredible pace in the latter stages to charge to fourth and miss out on the podium by just 0.650s. His teammate Michael van der Mark led in both the original and restarted race, getting involved in a number of spectacular battles with the leading riders before crossing the line in sixth after suffering from a loss of rear grip late on.
Lowes started Sunday’s Race 2 from pole position following on from his fourth-place finish in Race 1 on Saturday. When the lights went out, he made a good start and settled in behind his teammate van der Mark in second before the red flag was shown on the opening lap. In the restarted 19-lap race, Lowes entered the first corner in second behind van der Mark in a carbon copy of the original start. The teammates battled together on the opening lap before Jonathan Rea passed them both for the lead, with Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies also getting past Lowes, as the 27-year-old patiently took his time to find a good feeling with his harder option front tyre, whilst battling with the top riders in the championship. The British rider had focused on working on his late-race pace the whole weekend, realising that the abrasive new surface at Jerez would reward consistency in the latter stages. Lowes completed a 21-lap race simulation in FP2 on Friday, a strategy that clearly helped as halfway through the race he was able to improve his lap times and from fifth, started to close down the riders ahead of him.
On lap 11 his teammate ran wide after contact with Marco Melandri and Lowes needed no more invitation, with the 2013 British Superbike Champion taking advantage to pass van der Mark and then setting his sights on closing the two-second gap to the podium battle ahead of him. Relentlessly he hunted down the top 3 riders in a blistering display of riding but, unfortunately for Lowes, he just ran out of laps, eventually crossing the line in fourth only 0.650s behind Davies in third and 4.624s off the race winner. This result means Lowes has 226 points and retains fifth in the championship standings with just two races remaining and he is confident he will be in the hunt for the podium once more at the final round in Qatar.
Completing a Yamaha 1-2 on the grid, van der Mark got a blistering start from second in the original race and led until the red flag appeared. In Race 2 he managed to grab the holeshot again, leading for the majority of the first lap before Rea passed him. He then became involved in an excellent game of cat and mouse with Melandri that lasted for more than five laps. The 24-year-old Dutch rider got the better of the Italian, thwarting a number of passing attempts until Melandri made contact with him in Turn 9 with ten laps to go, forcing van der Mark wide and letting both the Italian and his teammate Lowes through.
Soon afterwards he made a small mistake as he started to suffer from a lack of rear grip, allowing Sykes through and dropping down to sixth, but the 2014 World Supersport champion once again rode maturely to ensure that, despite struggling in the last few laps as his grip issue worsened, he brought his Pata Yamaha R1 home in a superb sixth to add to his fifth-place finish in Race 1. This sees van der Mark sixth in the championship standings with 210 points, just 16 behind his teammate, and full of confidence heading into the final round in Qatar.
The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team return to action, keen to finish the year in the strongest fashion possible, at the final round of the season in Losail from the 2nd-4th November. Check out the Race 2 results.
Michael van der Mark
Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team – 5th +10.120s
“I had a really good first start and took the holeshot but then the red flag came out and we had to wait. I had another good start in the restarted race, I was leading the first lap before Jonathan Rea got past me. I tried to follow him but I was struggling. I had a better feeling with the softer front tyre but I couldn’t quite get the bike turned as well as the other guys. I had fought so hard to try and get the podium and I had some really nice battles but Marco Melandri made contact with me at Turn 9 and I ran wide, which allowed Alex to get past. I then made another little mistake and Tom Sykes got past me as well and I just couldn’t quite match their pace. I tried so hard right until the end and it was difficult but we recorded another top-six finish and secured some good championship points. Hopefully, in Qatar, we can fight for the podium again and finish the season on a high. The team has made great progress this year! At the beginning of the season, we had some ups and downs and rounds where I was fast and others where Alex was fast. Now we come to every track and we are both fast, which shows how much amazing progress we have made and I think Qatar is a track that will suit the R1 as well, so hopefully, we can show our full potential there!”
Paul Denning
Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team Principal
“Another exciting race this afternoon here in Jerez and, once again, both the Pata Yamahas were fighting with the very best. Alex rode, for me, one of his strongest races of the year. We have had better results elsewhere but after a difficult start to the race, where he struggled with front grip and braking, he had to be calm and let the pace develop as the race wore on. To close down as much as he did on Chaz Davies, who dominated the races here last year, shows the progress that we, as Pata Yamaha and Alex himself, have made. Alex and his team should be very proud of their performance over the course of this weekend. Michael had an exciting race, really battling hard with the top riders in the championship. There were passes and re-passes and possibly because of this, or the fact that his rear tyre was used in the red-flagged race, in the restarted race he ran out of grip and, as Tom Sykes pushed hard late on in the race, he made the right choice to finish well and score good points. Well done to everybody at Yamaha, to the team, and to the riders! We are now in a position where the hard work is starting to pay off and we can begin to see ourselves as real contenders.”
Alex Lowes
Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team – 4th +4.624s