Lowes finds braking adaptation gains with Kawasaki

Alex Lowes has adjusted his braking style to gel with the Kawasaki ZX-10RR as he continues to adapt having joined the reigning World Superbike champions this winter.

After splitting from Yamaha, Lowes makes a fresh start to his World Superbike career at Kawasaki Racing Team alongside Jonathan Rea.

Despite his extensive Superbike experience, 2020 marks the first year he has competed on Kawasaki machinery in WorldSBK meaning he is using the majority of his winter testing programme to grown familiar with the ZX-10RR and his new team.

Following a productive opening test at Aragon earlier in November, Lowes felt clear breakthroughs on his braking have been found at the Jerez test having completed 167 laps over the two-day test with a best lap of 1m 39.400s despite a late crash at the end of Day 2 while running a qualifying simulation.

“The test was really positive as my feeling with the bike was very good. After the Aragon test, Marcel [Duinker, Alex Lowes’ crew chief] and I wanted to work on the braking because how I rode my old bike was a little bit different,” Lowes said. “But already from the first laps here we made a big step, and today I felt really comfortable with the braking. This, I am really happy about.

“We did some longer runs today and I could keep it in a nice consistent pace, which was another really good thing. Obviously, at the end I fell while using a qualifying tyre but that was just a small detail.

“I have had instantly a good connection with all the mechanics and working with Marcel is really easy. It has been real good fun to be here with two good days and good weather; it has been enjoyable.”