Superbike, Sam Lowes angry with Surra after the crash: "Desperate move"

Contact in Superbike Race 1 for the two Ducati riders: the Briton got angry with the Italian, who was penalized for his maneuver.

The first race at Most was marked by some negative twists. The first was certainly Danilo Petrucci’s nasty crash on the opening lap: a terrifying highside at Turn 13 that brought out the red flag and caused physical issues for the BMW rider, who ended up in the hospital and out for the rest of the Superbike weekend in the Czech Republic. When the race restarted, on lap three there was contact between Alberto Surra and Sam Lowes, with the latter crashing at Turn 16. The two were fighting for fourth place; the Motocorsa team rider dived into the corner to respond to a previous overtake and his Ducati touched his colleague’s, who unfortunately had to retire.

The FIM WorldSBK Stewards Panel penalized the Italian for irresponsible riding, handing him a long lap penalty. After serving the penalty, the rookie found himself outside the top 10 and had to fight back, managing to finish with a good ninth place.

Surra is sorry about the incident and emphasizes that he obviously had no intention of taking his colleague out: "I’m sorry for what happened. I didn’t feel any contact because I was on the inside of the corner. I didn’t see Sam and I didn’t feel any contact; maybe he clipped a wing. I feel sorry for him and for his team, who will have to work to repair the bike. The important thing is that Sam is okay and wasn’t hurt. It was an unintentional contact."

The Motocorsa team rider was penalized, so he did make a mistake—something he’ll learn from. He’s young and growth also comes through mistakes, even if Lowes and the Elf Marc VDS team’s anger at retiring from a race due to someone else’s error is understandable.

The British rider places all the responsibility on Surra, convinced he could have avoided that move at Turn 16: "I made a good, clean move at Turn 15," he told the official WorldSBK site, "and he came back straight away at the next corner. Obviously, he has the right to do that, it’s racing, but he hit me and I crashed, so there’s not much to say. I wouldn’t have crashed if he hadn’t made that move. He didn’t have the pace to stay there, so it was a strange move. Maybe he could have stayed behind me and we could have moved forward, because I had good speed. But that’s part of the game. We’re all on the same track and everyone can make the moves they want."

Lowes also recalls that the Italian rider started from the second row alongside him thanks to the strategy used in Superpole and reiterates that the rookie’s mistake was clear: "The reason he was there in the first place is because he followed me in qualifying: he did a good lap, so credit to him. It was a bad move. He was dropping back, so it was strange. I don’t want to delve too much into it. If you look from the rear camera, he ran a bit wide, he didn’t make the corner. The long-lap penalty here costs you a couple of seconds; he didn’t lose much time."

The Elf Marc VDS rider also targets the timing, not just the move itself: "If he had touched me with two laps to go, there would have been no problem, absolutely. But on lap three... He had a good first lap and then got all the corners wrong; he was struggling. I think he had a different rear tire that didn’t seem to work. It was a desperate, strange move. But there’s no point in dwelling on it. I should have been further ahead and we’ll try to do better on Sunday. I think I had the pace to stay with Montella." We’ll see if Sam can bounce back today in the Superpole Race and in Race 2.