Alex Lowes is the new British Superbike champion
Alex Lowes claimed his first British Superbike Championship title on a thrilling closing day at Brands Hatch.
Last Updated: 20/10/13 6:15pm
Lowes made history, becoming the youngest winner of the crown, by finishing ahead of his sole rival Shane Byrne in the last of three races at the Kent circuit.
But that success seemed a long way off for the Samsung Honda rider when he slid off the track at the opening corner of the day's first race to leave the door wide open for Byrne.
Conditions were treacherous for much of that race and Byrne was unable to cope with them all that well himself, struggling in ninth place when he eventually joined Lowes in coming off his bike on lap six.
That left Lowes with a three-point lead going into the finale and he led his rival a merry dance for the first half of the race before Byrne closed in.
Huge cheers
Byrne took the title lead back on lap seven with a pass on Lowes and held it all the way to the 16th lap of 18 when the Lincoln rider made a pass at Graham Hill Bend to huge cheers from the crowd.
Lowes continued to hold the edge and when Byrne had a nasty slide before the final lap, all he had to do was get to the line to secure the title by just over a second, seven points the eventual difference between the two.
The title fight took much of the gloss off a superb weekend for Australian rider Josh Brookes (Suzuki), who won Saturday's opening race and completed a treble with two more wins on Sunday.
That was enough to secure third place overall, with Brookes closing within 22 points of champion Lowes by the end of the finale.
