Samsung Honda team manager Havier Beltran is unsurprisingly ‘over the moon’ after his rider, Alex Lowes was crowned MCE British Superbike champion in the final race of the last round of the series at Brands Hatch.

Beltran has praised the determination and hard-work of not just Lowes, but both sides of the garage, in what has been an eventful year for the team. Lowes’ team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari was absent from the last round as he was  recovering from a shoulder injury. The triple champ has not had the best of season's and even though he joined his team-mate in the Showdown he was never really in contention to challenge for the title.

But Beltran is just thrilled that Honda are champions again and that Lowes beat rival, Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne, in a series that went down to the wire. The team owner is already making plans for next year, and has a list of riders in mind for 2014.

“I am over the moon and so proud of the team, and everybody in it on both sides of the garage, especially on Alex’s side. He has trained so hard and worked so hard and at the end of the day we came here and worked our way into the Showdown in a way that we knew what we had to do - and that was to beat Shakey on track,” said Beltran, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

“It was devastating when Alex crashed in race two, but then Shakey crashed and then the game was back on. Going into the final race Alex knew that he had to beat Shakey and that is what he did, and it was a great ride. I am so proud of him and he worked well, and it is great for Samsung Honda and all of our sponsors. And it was great for Honda to get the championship back again after not winning for the last few years.

“I feel personally very good, and I have got closer to Alex and I have been able to advise and help him be stronger and understand him and see what makes him tick, and I am proud I played a part in that. But it is not just me, it is the whole team that has helped and Alex and everyone had their part to play and it is great that Alex has been willing to listen and to learn.

“It has been sad with Kiyo, I have been upset and annoyed but at the end of the day he has hurt himself and he is not here, it is a great shame and I wish him all the best and hope to see him next week.

“I am starting plans on Monday and looking forward to 2014, and I am having meetings with Honda UK this week. We have a nice little list of rider’s to work through and Alex is certainly on there.”