Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/844701
VOL. 54 ISSUE 26 JULY 4, 2017 P127 Italian Gresini team in 2016, where for a while he ran Zarco close for the title. In the end in- consistency cost him; only two wins among six podiums, and too many no-scores. Mostly caused by lone crashes. His least distinguished statistic of 2016 was that he had the most recorded falls in all three class- es. Lowes ended up at 30; even the headlong Axel Pons had only 21, the next most in Moto2. Overall, Argentine Moto3 rider Gabriel Rodrigo was second at 27; MotoGP's Cal Crutchlow had 26. The contract not only took the identical twin of SBK Ya- maha factory rider Alex away from the precarious Speed Up Moto2 chassis and onto the class-leading Kalex, but had him testing Aprilia's new Mo- toGP bike, and down to ride it for the next two years. This was at the expense of either Stefan Bradl or Alvaro Bautista, both dropped by Aprilia at the end of 2016. So the new season begins at Qatar, where Sam becomes the first premier-class rider to fall off. This is an aspect of his search for speed that just won't go away. He's not quite the crashiest rider in the top class: that's happy tumbler Marquez, with 13 by the end of the Assen weekend. But Sam is just two behind. Not so unexpectedly, Lowes is not very close to his new and vastly more experienced teammate Aleix Espargaro. The Spaniard is clearly faster and spends time close to the sharp end in races. He's claimed three top-10 finishes, includ- ing sixth at Qatar. Sam has scored points just once, 14th in France. But, even discounting Aleix's seven years of MotoGP experi- ence, the comparison is not entirely fair. Sam's role is, to a large extent, that of a tester. For example, he keeps on using the ducted-downforce fairing to gather data. Aleix, meanwhile, gets the go-faster bits, the engine and chassis upgrades—a role Lowes was happy with, since he is also learning the ropes in the top class. Until Aprilia team boss Romano Albesiano started to issue nebulous but definite threats around about the time of the Catalunyan GP, two weeks before Assen. Various sources quoted the man who inherited a so-far less-than-successful MotoGP project from Gigi Dall'Igna when he departed for Ducati. For example, Italian website GPOne. " We hope," ran the quote, "that he [Sam] can quickly show signs of improve- ment. But at the same time, we cannot allow ourselves to stand still, because we need to think about the next championship." Then came Albesiano's killer line. "This means we will talk to other riders." That in turn meant that he already was talking to other riders. Like Iannone, Petrucci, Bautista, though conversations with Cal Crutchlow came to naught, when he signed to stay with Honda. Lowes therefore went to Assen under a cloud. He was riding for his job. Happily for him, qualifying was also under a cloud, giving him a chance to show his mettle on a soaking track. He was second-fastest in Q1, earning for the first time the right to go through to Q2. Espargaro was fifth in that ses- sion, and out of the picture. Now Sam had a first chance to shine, with the big guys, and still on a wet track. But he was on an Aprilia, and it was time for the bike to show that the rider was not neces- sarily the weakest link—with a massive full-throttle smoky blow-up, just in front of Rossi. Given that Espargaro has already lost two engines, and another that blew up at Bar- celona tests, it looks like the "must try harder" tag doesn't only apply to the rider. CN