Newsletter

The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

24 Abril 2023

Tough Time For Lowes In Assen Race Two

An uncharacteristic crash for Alex Lowes in the sighting lap for Race 2 at Assen provided Alex and the team a real challenge as the KRT rider made his way back to pit lane as the remainder of the field lined up on the grid.

“Superpole had been a good experience for us and my side of the pit box were working really hard to resolve some of the issues that need to be crossed off for us to go to the next level. It was just a glitch that caused me to drop the bike during sighting lap and the Ninja itself sustained damage to the bodywork and some key parts, but was still rideable”
Deep scars to the AL22 machine meant a tense period for both rider and the entire pit crew who worked efficiently and in a well-practiced fashion with literally seconds to go before race start.
“Rules are rules and that meant my pit crew had to work super-fast to check my bike over and declare it OK to ride in the race. Even though we have a spare bike when you are this deep into a race it is not possible to just jump off one bike and onto another. It’s a testament to the efficiency of the mechanics that they got me sorted and able to compete despite the amount of machine damage – including cowlings, handlebar, master cylinder, electronic parts and a foot rest – adding to the huge pressure they were under.”
Moving to KRT’s home round in Catalunya during early May, Lowes and his pit crew are drilling down on their data to optimise endurance across race distance with a focus on front end feel.
“We are real close to making another step forward but these things are down to such small adjustments. Luckily we have so much data and such a good idea for the base settings for every track we visit that finding the parameters is not such a challenge. The real pressure is to get those last few percentage increments to fight consistently across a whole race distance. I am sure we will do it, but our goal is to do it in the shortest time frame possible”.