Kawasaki's Alex Lowes clinches first career World Superbike double at Phillip Island as Jonathan Rea crashes out

Ulsterman Rea – 17th in Saturday’s first race of the season – was 10th in the earlier Superpole race before the 37-year-old came off his R1 machine at Turn 11 in Race 2 at the end of the third lap, moments after he had climbed as high as fourth place when Toprak Razgatlioglu suffered a technical issue on his factory ROKiT BMW.

The race was red-flagged after Rea’s crash and the six-time champion was carried away on a stretcher, although he was reported to be conscious.

A further update from the organisers said Rea had sustained ‘multiple contusions and abrasions’ in the incident, but he was later released from the circuit Medical Centre and returned to his Yamaha garage.

Rea will now look to regroup for round two of the championship in four weeks’ time at Catalunya in Barcelona after failing to put any points on the board in Australia.

By contrast, Briton Lowes had a dream weekend for Kawasaki as he returned to the top step in World Superbikes for the first time in four years, when the 33-year-old triumphed in Race 2 at Phillip Island in 2020.

Race 2 was restarted over a reduced distance of 11 laps, removing the need for a compulsory pit stop to fit a new rear tyre – a decision introduced on safety grounds this weekend due to aggressive tyre wear caused by the new asphalt at Phillip Island.

Reigning champion Alvaro Bautista grabbed the early lead on the Aruba.it Ducati and was challenged by Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Motocorsa Racing Ducati) as the duo edged away from the pack.

Lowes began to close the deficit on the leaders in third and moved into second place with a pass on Rinaldi into Turn 1 at the beginning of lap eight.

Andrea Iannone, who claimed a podium on his WSBK race debut in Saturday’s race in third behind fellow debutant Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati) and Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli, began to drop back in fourth after running wide a few times on the Team Go Eleven Ducati.

Locatelli was attempting to claw back ground after dropping down the order at the start of the race.

The Italian was on the move and had closed in on Rinaldi by lap nine, making a pass for third at Turn 10.

Locatelli then set his sights on race leaders Bautista and Lowes but his race came to a dramatic end when he crashed on the final lap at Turn 4 after trying to pass Lowes.

In a thrilling conclusion, Lowes stunned Bautista with a pass around his outside at Lukey Heights in a race-winning move.

Bautista tried to hit back but Lowes prevailed on the blast to the line by only 0.048s for his fourth World Superbike success, with three of those wins coming at Phillip Island. It was also Lowes’ first career WSBK double.

Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Ducati) locked horns with Iannone on the final lap and came out on top to secure the final rostrum place by less than a tenth of a second.

Saturday race winner Bulega recovered from a poor start to clinch fifth ahead of Rinaldi.

Sam Lowes finished seventh on the Marc VDS Ducati ahead of Garrett Gerloff on the Bonovo Action BMW.

Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW) and Dominique Aegerter (GRT Yamaha) completed the top ten.

Axel Bassani, who replaced Rea in the Kawasaki Racing Team for 2024, was 11th.

Bradley Ray earned a point in 15th on the Motoxracing Yamaha in his first appearance at Phillip Island while fellow Brit Scott Redding was 17th (Bonovo Action BMW) ahead of Tarran Mackenzie (MIE Racing Honda).

Earlier, Lowes won the Superpole race by 1.1s from Locatelli with Razgatlioglu sealing his first podium as a BMW rider in third.

Locatelli had found himself as low as 10th before staging a fightback in the second half of the race to snatch the runner-up spot.

Razgatlioglu narrowly held off Bautista for third on the sprint to the line by 0.074s, with Bulega just over a second behind his Ducati team-mate in fifth.

Aussie Remy Gardner finalised the top six on the GRT Yamaha.

Early race leader Iannone experienced a problem with his Ducati on lap six and eventually finished in 14th place.

Lowes leads the championship on 50 points after the first round, nine ahead of Bulega, with Locatelli 12 points further back in third.

Round two takes place at Catalunya in Barcelona from March 22-24.