Lowry rides to victory at Snetterton

Ian Lowry won his first British Supersport race at Snetterton, making the most of his Relentless Suzuki horsepower, to fend off a determined challenged from Dennis Hobbs on the Padgett Honda.

Lowry, 20 years old and from Moira, is only his fourth season of road racing after years of motocross.

He finished runner-up in the previous two rounds at Silverstone and Oulton but took the big step up to the top step of the podium with an inspired ride.

Sporting a big tyre mark down the right side of his leathers, Lowry said: “I’m not sure what happened at the start. I let the clutch go but must have misjudged the revs because I didn’t get away at all well and then someone ran into me in the first corner.

“It was a bad start to the race but a great way to end it. It’s an unbelievable feeling to have finally scored my first win but it’s been coming for a while now. To finally get the first win is unreal but I hope I can stay on top for while now, especially as we’re at Mondello next.”

Relentless team-mate Michael Laverty finished second and leads the championship by 21 points from Lowry. Laverty, though had to use every last ounce of the impressive GSX-R600 horsepower to breeze by Hobbs along the start-finish line.

Laverty said: “I tried to lead from the front but ran into the same chatter problems as I’ve had all year. Then at the end I just went for it and, to my surprise, was able to ride through it and got second rode through it.”

Hobbs, still shaking his head in frustration as he took his Honda into the Parc Ferme, said: “I had the corner speed but they had the legs on my every time we came onto the straights.

“I couldn’t even hold the slipstream but we knew coming here it would be this way. I got good drive out of Russell’s on the last lap but Laverty but he still blitzed me. I’m disappointed but we’ve got Mondello next and that suits me.