Lowes named as Haslam replacement at Kawasaki

Alex Lowes has been officially confirmed as the replacement for Leon Haslam at Kawasaki for the 2020 World Superbike championship.

With Yamaha signing Toprak Razgatlioglu it pushed out the British rider from his current World Superbike ride, but Lowes is heading to reigning world champions Kawasaki next season alongside Jonathan Rea. Earlier this week the Japanese manufacturer confirmed Haslam would leave the team at the end of this year.

Having joined the WorldSBK grid six years ago as 2013 British Superbike champion, Lowes has notched up 18 podiums, along with one win, in the series and is currently third in the WorldSBK riders’ standings.

“KRT welcomes a 27-year-old rider with a lot of pace and good experience,” Guim Roda, KRT team manager, said. “Our target is to ‘polish’ Lowes and try to make him a candidate for the title too. And he has a long career ahead. He has shown very good skills during these years and for sure the potential is there. We’ll try to use all the tools at our disposal in KRT to help him show his best.”

“All at Kawasaki would like to send a warm welcome to Alex, who will join the elite Kawasaki Racing Team for next season in WorldSBK - partnering up with the all-time greatest Champion Jonathan Rea inside our Factory team,” Steve Guttridge, Kawasaki Europe Racing Manager, added.

“Alex is known to be a very hard worker and shows 100% commitment in every race. This attitude, combined with his talent and a clear enjoyment of his job, means that we are very confident that, along with the great staff we have inside KRT and on the Ninja ZX-10RR, this will be the start of a very exciting new era for all.”

Lowes is also a three-time Suzuka 8 Hours winner, taking three consecutive victories between 2016 and 2018, and is expected to join the team’s line-up for the iconic endurance event next year.