Sam Lowes explains “unfortunate” crash that ruled him out of Aragon World Superbike

A crash for Sam Lowes in WorldSBK Race 1 at last weekend’s Aragon World Superbike round ultimately left him out of action on Sunday.

Lowes crashed on the first lap, with fluid leaking on his rear tyre after a minor contact with the Yamaha R1 of Jonathan Rea when they were entering the second corner together.

Lowes said he “I didn’t feel the contact, it was obviously slight,” when he spoke to Eurosport after being declared unfit on Sunday morning in Aragon. However, it was that “slight” contact which ultimately led to Lowes’ crash.

“I’m actually quite happy with my start,” Lowes said. “My starts were bad in Cremona, so I was happy to sort of hold my own.

“But then entering into turn two, Johnny [Jonathan Rea] is just behind me and he had [Garrett] Gerloff coming over the front of him and he just gets sandwiched in a bit and he just clips the back of my bike — very easy to do.

“Obviously, that corner on the first lap, everyone sort of funnels in there. I didn’t feel it, Johnny obviously just sort of sits up, but it just must have been enough [to cause the problem].

“I lost the rear a bit [exiting turn three]. It was on the kerbs, I saw Alex [Lowes] do the same, but when I came up into turn four I lost it a little bit [entering], thought ‘what’s going on’, and then, nothing.

“I fell straight onto the kerb which was unfortunate, I knew straight away when I got up the shoulder [was hurt].

“I didn’t quite know what was going on because it’s a strange crash, not a normal thing. I knew I didn’t do anything wrong at that point, but it was a strange one.

“It’s unfortunate, it’s been a lot better weekend for me, qualifying was close, just an unfortunate one.”

Lowes was able to take part in Warm Up on Sunday morning before a medical review after the session in which he was ruled unfit.

“I actually thought I was going to be alright this morning,” Lowes said. “I went out and I braked into turn 12 on the first lap and sort of fell a bit forward and thought ‘That’s not ideal’.

“The problem is, where I did it in Most, it has recovered a bit but because I’ve took a whack on it again yesterday, I’ve just cracked— not quite the same place where all the callus is, but a bit further along. So, obviously not possible to ride.”

Although Lowes was unfit for Aragon's Superpole Race and Race 2, he is expecting to be back for the next round at Estoril.

“I’m a bit beaten up,” Lowes said after crashing on both Friday and Saturday at Aragon.

“The shoulder, it’s not like the past, when I did it in Most — it’s not destroyed, I’ll be able to be in Estoril, but just one day [after the Race 1 crash] I’m still struggling a bit.

“I thought I was alright, I went out and did an ‘ok’ lap time in Warm Up, but, to do the race, especially straight into the Superpole Race, I wasn’t ready for it.

“It will be nice to get to Estoril, try to continue this upward trend of the riding, the class in Superbike is a big learning curve this year and we’re slowly getting there.”