Alex Lowes had to climb off his motorhome toilet to stand any chance of scoring points at the second Aragon WorldSBK round after starting to suffer with bout of severe gastroenteritis on the Tuesday.

It affected his ability to ride and especially to maintain pace as his already low energy levels were sapped in the Spanish heat.

“I have struggled all weekend but I did not complain too much on Friday and just tried to be positive,” said Lowes after posting results of 6-6-5.

Since Tuesday morning I have been struggling to keep food inside so it was a tough weekend. I did not have so much energy which is why I skipped a session, just made a couple of laps.”

Lowes and his team still worked towards the best result they could get and they were better than some he has had in 2020 already.

This weekend saw an improvement in his machine’s abilities too. “The setup changes we made on the bike were good and allowed me to have some decent results. I could not do any more and I was quite proud of my efforts. It was a shame not to be able to use our potential a bit more. We changed back to my preferred setting and we were fast in all the sessions.

Even this morning, in the short ten-lap race, I was able to go from seventh place on the first lap to near the front but I just didn’t have the energy to keep going. If I was 100% fit maybe I would have been able to challenge for the podiums, which was the target this weekend, but unfortunately it does not matter now. I finished fifth.”

After a great start in Australia and then some up and down results Lowes is looking forward to a physical recovery and then three more races.

“I have three rounds left in my first year with Kawasaki and obviously I want to be on the podium because I am not happy with the results we are getting at the minute, but there are also a lot of guys going really fast, a lot of bikes and teams and packages that are becoming really strong.

"It is probably the strongest year we have had, and the closest year, in WorldSBK. If you miss one or two tenths in qualifying, you can be P12. It is a different championship to a couple of years ago. My target is to be back on he podium but the job I did this weekend, honestly, I am proud of myself because nobody knows how difficult it was to make these three races.”

Lowes felt it was a better final result than he could have realistically expected. This was actually his best weekend since Australia, as he no scored in the final race at the otherwise strong Portimao round, where he had two fourth places. “It was better than I imagined because I don’t think I could ride after Friday,” said Alex.

“I was so disappointed last weekend, really (at the Aragon round in Motorland). I made a mistake in the first race while I challenging at the front. Then on Sunday we did not do a good job as a group and we went the wrong way. The second race was nowhere near the race runs that we did in the test here. We were 18 seconds faster then, for example.

That was a really frustrating race last weekend. So I had a lot of motivation to come back and be strong like I was at the test for this weekend. My mind was good, my bike was working good from the first laps but my body was just not there.”

Lowes put his ability to race at all down to sleeping a lot, and the help of the team in organising everything for him so well to let him rest and recover. Even right up to the eve of the final race at 2pm on Sunday.

“Luckily I had the motorhome here. Before the race, I went to lunch, and then lay down in the motorhome and Rocky, at 25 past one, had to wake me up because I had fallen asleep again for 45 minutes! After Saturday’s race I was talking to my wife on the phone and I fell asleep! She was talking on the phone and I was asleep for one hour. Nowadays you cannot have an IV drip or do anything to put the fluids into your body. You have to just eat and drink the best you can.”

Having other riders around helped Lowes stay focus and as his results show, the one place he did not go for a nap was on the bike. “In the last race I had Leon in front of me and I just focused on him every lap. That helped me to get to the end of the race. And luckily I did not fall asleep on the bike."