Lowes tops Superbikes Australian round

Englishman Alex Lowes has edged legendary teammate Jonathan Rea in the final race to lead the Superbike world championship after the opening round at Phillip Island in Victoria.

Lowes got past pole-sitter and five-time world champion Rea with two laps to go and won Sunday’s 22-lap race by just 0.037s from the Northern Irishman.

It was Lowes’ first win in Kawasaki colours and his first since Brno in 2018.

Having finished second behind Turkey’s Toprak Razgatlioglu in race one on Saturday, Lowes left Phillip Island with a haul of 51 points, leading from Ducati’s Scott Redding (39), Razgatlioglu (Yamaha, 34), defending champion Rea (32), Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark (31) and Honda’s Alvaro Bautista (20).

Earlier on Sunday, Rea bounced back after a high-speed crash in Saturday’s race to win a nail-biting Superpole Sprint race two from Razgatlioglu and Redding (Ducati).

Just 0.072 seconds – a little more than a tyre width – separated the trio after the frenetic 10-lapper, with Lowes right on their tail in fourth place.

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