Lowes beats Rea to take World Superbike points lead

Full Phillip Island World Superbike Race 2 Results

Alex Lowes has claimed his second career World Superbike race win and with it the early championship lead in a frantic and unpredictable Phillip Island opening round.

Following defending champion Jonathan Rea’s recovery from his Race 1 off by winning the Sprint Race, the Kawasaki rider led for the majority of Race 2 despite tussles for top spot against both Lowes and Loris Baz.

Rea tried to produce a late breakaway from the pack with three laps to go, upping the pace by over one second per lap, but Lowes plus Michael van der Mark and Scott Redding were able to keep stride to set up a showdown.

That let Lowes take the initiative at the start of the penultimate lap as he charged up the inside of Rea at the first corner which also invited van der Mark into an attack.

With Lowes bolting, Rea kept within touching distance after getting back by van der Mark but couldn’t find a way through in the sprint to the chequered flag which meant his new Kawasaki team-mate led home a 1-2.

For the first time in World Superbike history all three races at a single round have been won by different riders, while Lowes is also leading the points standings for the first time in his career.

Rea can be content with his recovery in second place, putting him fourth in the standings, as Ducati’s Redding completed a hat-trick of rostrums on his World Superbike debut to leave Australia second in the early championship positions.

That left Pata Yamaha’s van der Mark narrowly off of the podium again at Phillip Island, while Chaz Davies profited from trouble for those ahead of him to take fifth place for Aruba.it Racing Ducati.

Race 1 winner Toprak Razgatlioglu had looked set to join the podium fight but a late mechanical issue with three laps to go wrecked the Pata Yamaha rider’s hopes as he was forced to retire. The problem looked engine-related as he suffered a sudden drop in power which almost collected Baz behind him, with the French rider needing to take to the gravel to avoid a nasty crash.

Alvaro Bautista enjoyed a clean race to take sixth place for Honda just in front of a standout performance from Maximilian Scheib on the Orelac Racing Kawasaki in seventh place.

Baz recovered from his near-miss with Razgatlioglu to take eighth place ahead of Sandro Cortese on the Pedercini Kawasaki with Tom Sykes fading late on for BMW in 10^th place.

With Xavi Fores in 11^th place for Puccetti Kawasaki, Leon Haslam completed the classified finishers following an early fall after clashing with Team GoEleven Ducati’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi on the second lap.

Both Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha) and Takumi Takahashi (Mie Althea Honda) also failed to finish, while Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha), Eugene Laverty (BMW) and Leon Camier (Barni Ducati) all didn’t start the race due to respective injuries.