BIMOTA Right now, we’ re seeing a very good version of Alex Lowes who isn’ t making regular visits to the gravel traps. At Portimao, he took his Bimota to three fourth place finishes and, whilst he kept Oliveira under pressure, he just didn’ t have enough to make a pass and Oliveira could not be pushed into a mistake. Bimota colleague Axel Bassani didn’ t have as much of an impact as he had done at Phillip Island, he could only achieve 10th in quali and that converted into some great mid-pack tussles but did mean he was never in podium contention. Portimao represented a decent weekend for the Bimota outfit with 50-points scored between the two riders.
MARCVDS DUCATI Alex Lowes’ twin brother Sam did a phenomenal job to take three fifth place finishes on the MarcVDS Ducati whilst still nursing a broken bone in his hand, courtesy of a crash in Race Two at Phillip Island, which was still causing significant discomfort. His stoicism means he’ s still the leading independent rider in the championship ahead of Lorenzo Baldassari. Alex was happy to have beaten his brother in all three races; Sam was just happy to finish the races.
YAMAHA Whilst Yamaha was not expected to challenge Ducati or BMW, their performances were still mostly disappointing. Xavi Vierge rather than Andrea Locatelli is taking the lead which won’ t sit well for Loca who would’ ve expected himself to be the dominant Blu Cru rider at least whilst Vierge adapted himself to the Yamaha after a few seasons on the underperforming Honda. Instead, Vierge was looking by far the more in form at Portimao, qualifying eight places ahead of Loca, finishing sixth and seventh in the first two races but then failing to capitalise on that by low-siding out of full-length Race Two although he did still come away from the weekend with 15-points to Loca’ s 11-points. Note to Vierge, you’ re looking good but stop binning It( Two DNFs and a DNS from Round One was an even worse start to the year than Oliveira’ s).
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