The long winter period may be in full swing but there is still time to look back at the 2023 WorldSBK Championship season as BSN brings you our rundown of the Top 10 WorldSBK Riders of the Year.
Starting us off in tenth place is… Alex Lowes
| 10th | ALEX LOWES |
| Team | Kawasaki Racing Team |
| Motorcycle | Kawasaki ZX-10RR |
| Overall Classification | 11th |
| Points | 149 points |
| Best Results | 3rd [Rd.2 Mandalika] |
A fourth season with the Kawasaki Racing Team delivered a mixed bag of fortunes for Alex Lowes in a campaign that at times ‘deceived to flatter’.
A rider that has persevered with competing in the unavoidable shadow cast from having Mr Kawasaki himself, Jonathan Rea, on the other side of the pit box, to his credit Lowes has never allowed it to undermine his diligent efforts with KRT.
In fact, if anything this was Lowes’ strongest season yet in terms of his own pure performance, only for it to be negated by the ageing Kawasaki ZX-10RR’s noticeable decline in competitiveness relative to rivals.
However, while results year-on-year were down across the board among Kawasaki’s WorldSBK contingent, Lowes’ were the most like-for-like compared with previous years.
Peaking with a podium during Round 2 in Indonesia, Lowes also made noticeable strides in single lap performance with a number of headline-grabbing Superpole efforts, even if his table-topping tally of crashes at the end of the season told their own story.
More of a match to the ‘other’ #2 riders at main rivals Yamaha and Ducati tha the final placement of 11th in the standings would have you believe, Lowes’ season would wind up being dictated by an injury-riddled run to the end that benched him for six races.
With the arrival of brother Sam Lowes next season to give Alex a direct benchmark to compare with and the exit of Rea opening up an opportunity to beat new team-mate Axel Bassani in becoming KRT’s primary focus, 2024 could well be the making or breaking of the WorldSBK stalwart.
