with most to gain for himself in
Losail.
He, his Pata Yamaha teammate
Michael van der Mark (VDM), and
Turkish Puccetti Kawasaki rider
Toprak Razgatlioglu approached
this race with only six points
separating them in the battle for
third overall, but Lowes beat VDM
three times in the races, and
scored a final brace of Yamaha
podiums before he heads to
Kawasaki to join Rea.
"At the start of this year the
target was the top three, and we
have managed to do that," said
Lowes. "I had one bad weekend
in Jerez, but apart from that, it
has been a really solid second
part of the year."
In the first race of the week-
end—which runs from Thursday to
Saturday at the Doha race—Rea
was the leader across every lap,
stretching his rivals one-by-one.
Chaz Davies was the rider with
Rea closest in his sights at the
end of race one, no mean feat
after having to start from 12th
after a tough Superpole qualify-
ing session.
Third on the podium let Lowes
defend overall third at the very
first attempt.
In the second race of the
"weekend," known as the Tissot-
Superpole race, it was expected
to be a real tussle. It was a 10-
lap, compacted version of a full
contest. Like many other times
this year, however, the theoreti-
cally more intense race was not
any more or less competitive than
the longer versions.
In that one, Rea eventually
beat Bautista by a serious 2.027
seconds, which, considering
Bautista's bike was a guided mis-
sile down that long main straight,
was something remarkable to
witness, even from the modern
era's most successful bike, rider
and team combination.
Third, behind a safe Bautista,
was again Lowes
beating Van der
Mark, and this time
into sixth, as Davies
scored fifth place.
Fourth was
Haslam, temporarily
enjoying his farewell
to KRT and WorldSBK
after his return from
BSB this season.
The final race of the
weekend, another full
17-lap run, had some
great early possibili-
ties behind Rea, but
it ended up with him
the clear winner again.
He had looked threatened by
the Ducatis of Bautista, and then
eventual second-placed rider
Davies, but when he needed it,
Rea found more pace and hold-
ing abilities from his setup. He
scored his 17th win of the sea-
son, to add to his Pirelli Best Lap
Award and Superpole Award.
The battle for third overall was
helped along in Lowes' favor by
not just his performance, but the
less-than-ideal setup and feel
from VDM's machine, as the tall
Dutchman tried to get back into
contention, but was only sixth in
the sprint race.
The final race proved a tough
one for Lowes to handle for a
time, simply swamped by rivals
once VDM had given a firm over-
taking maneuver to Lowes as a
goodbye present.
But Lowes kept this cool and
worked his way past all the riders
who had passed him with the
VOLUME 56 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 29, 2019 P45
Try as they might,
but the Ducatis of
Avaro Bautista and
Chaz Davies just
couldn't stop the
rampaging Rea.
