Moto2: Lowes bides his time in title race

Sam Lowes is continuing to bide his time in the battle for the 2016 Moto2 championship, after a difficult weekend at the Dutch TT saw him content to leave the Netherlands with 13 points safe in the bag after finishing the race in fourth.

The Lincolnshire racer struggled during the early stages of Sunday’s rain struck race to find grip from the Dunlop tyres. And, finally making progress in the last laps, an early end to the race thanks to rain left him frustrated afterwards.

“I had the same grip from the start to the end, which was a problem because I had none at the start! Everyone else had a lot at the start but then were struggling at the end, and if they’d been no rain I’d have been third easily because I was taking a second a lap out of Franco Morbidelli.

“We haven’t made the best of the situation with the bike. I’ve been the only guy running the stiffer swinging arm, but when we get the harder allocation of tyres it doesn’t work, which we’ve learned now. But honestly, our potential is so much more than we’ve shown in the last two races.”

But while he might be leaving Assen disappointed with his performance in Sunday’s race, Lowes was still able to close down the gap in the championship battle thanks to an even poorer race for title leader Alex Rins that saw him finish two places behind the former World Supersport champion.

“I’m five points behind after eight races – that’s alright. I’ll come strong, because I’m making the job on a bike that doesn’t have the setting right yet. Despite that I’m still doing a decent job, and I’ve maybe been criticised for making too many mistakes in the past, which I’ve stopped doing now.”