—Â Alex Lowes secures maiden title with Samsung Honda
The Samsung Honda team is celebrating its fourth British Superbike Championship title after Alex Lowes defeated Shane Byrne in the final race of the season at Brands Hatch to become the youngest-ever BSB champion.
The triple-header event – which took place in mixed conditions – was packed with drama that kept the fans on the edge of their seats and took the title fight down to the final lap of the final race. Lowes took second place in the first race of the weekend on Saturday, but a crash in the second race on Sunday would have put him on the back foot had title rival Byrne not also crashed out, leaving the Samsung Honda rider with a three-point advantage.
With Josh Brookes snatching an early and unchallengeable lead in the final race, Lowes and Byrne went head-to-head for second place, battling fiercely for the points that would ultimately award one of them the championship title. In the end, it came down to the last lap and it was Lowes aboard the Samsung Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade that had the edge, taking second place to secure his first – and the team’s fourth – BSB crown. Freddy Foray finished thirteenth, tenth and fourteenth as he deputised for Ryuichi Kiyonari.
In the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship Jason O’Halloran missed out on the podium in the Sprint race with a fifth place and crashed out whilst dicing with the lead group in the final race. He ends the season in sixth place overall.
Alex Lowes – “I’m pretty happy. It was an unbelievable last race, really difficult, and I just didn’t know how fast to push. I saw on my pit signals that Shane was closing on me and round here that is the last thing you wanted to see. It was a case of keeping focussed and when Shane had got past me I knew that I had to pass him if I wanted the title so I pushed on real hard. I had a few moments but luckily kept it all together and beat him to take the title. To me that really is incredible, because its always difficult with the weather playing such a big part. Saturday’s race was hard – it was difficult to know where the grip was so it was a case of keeping calm and then pushing hard. It felt pretty good but it was quite slippery. In Sunday’s first race Josh Brookes touched my bar and I went down – it was not my fault and I can’t be angry about something that is out of my control. It was one of those things, unfortunate.”
