The Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round has excited yet again, but this time for the first MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, Tissot Superpole Race of the season, and for the first time in 4 years it was Alex Lowes [Kawasaki Racing Team] who took the season first honours.
Lowes last World Superbike victory came at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit back in 2020 during Race 2, but today ended his four-year drought taking the win by over a second in front of Andrea Locatelli [Pata Prometeon Yamaha] and Toprak Razgatlioglu [ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team].
With this being the only race on the schedule that doesn’t require a mandatory pit stop, it was game on from lights out to start the 10 lap sprint race. Andrea Iannone [Team GoEleven] managed the holeshot on the 22-rider field to lead the race into Turn 1, although it didn’t take long for Alex Lowes to make his first dive into the lead.
With Lowes breaking away at the front, it was a monumental battle for the remaining podium positions, with Remy Gardner [GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team] showing his determination of getting on the podium in front of his home crowd.
While some very tight and aggressive passes were made in the fight for second again Andrea Locatelli, Alvaro Bautista [Aruba.it Racing – Ducati], Toprak Razgatlioglu, and Remy Gardner, it was Locatelli who put in the strongest charge, who fought his way back from as low as 10th position.
Bautista made some great improvements from his dismal Race 1 results, narrowly missing out on the podium to claim fourth position after some close battles with Australian rider Remy Gardner.
While Gardner found his way into podium contention for a large portion of the race, unfortunately the Yamaha rider slipped down the order in the closing laps, to round out the race in sixth position.
The top nine from the Tissot Superpole Race, full results here:
1. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) +1.157s
3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +1.738s
4. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +1.812s
5. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +2.838s
6. Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +2.853s
7. Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +3.051s
8. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +3.341s
9. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team Motocorsa Racing) +5.535s
