Moto GP. Aprilia "overestimated itself" when it signed Lowes.

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sirch345
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Moto GP. Aprilia "overestimated itself" when it signed Lowes.

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Not so good for Sam Lowes as Scott Redding takes his place.

By: Jamie Klein, News Editor
09/03/2018 11:16
Aprilia racing manager Romano Albesiano admits the Italian MotoGP manufacturer “overestimated” its capacity when it recruited Sam Lowes for 2017.

Lowes was originally signed on a two-year deal with Aprilia, but the Moto2 graduate was released halfway through a campaign that was largely devoid of results.

He returns to the intermediate class this year with the CGBM Evolution squad, having had his place at Aprilia taken by Pramac Ducati convert Scott Redding.

Albesiano emphasised he “believed” in Lowes but said his lack of experience of other MotoGP bikes meant the Briton was likely destined to fail in his rookie season at the top level.

“Unfortunately, not all rookies can do well,” he said at the launch of the 2018 Aprilia livery. “What counts is the capacity of a rider to improve, to make a leap in quality, even if he suffers initially.

“It’s a pity because we believed in Sam, but not having seen any improvements we decided to change. We had to focus on getting somebody more experienced because our bike is very different from the other ones.

“Perhaps we are guilty of having overestimated ourselves, considering we are still in the growth phase of the project.

“The bike has many unique points, for which we need references coming from riders who can supply them. Coming from Moto2, obviously Sam did not have them.”

Albesiano underlined that Lowes’ replacement Redding having prior experience of riding for Honda and Ducati was proving beneficial to the RS-GP’s development.

“He is young but with a lot of experience and an immense will,” said the Italian of Redding, who partners Aleix Espargaro at Aprilia in 2018.

“I particularly like his working method and his relentless focus. He wants to improve the bike before he looks for performance.

"He has integrated well with the team and he has given us references to other bikes he has ridden in the past, making us understand the level we are at.

“This is a fundamental thing, and at this stage he has proven really useful.”

Additional reporting by Francesco Corghi

The above taken from this link:- https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/ ... 12965/amp/


Aprilia reveals its 2018 MotoGP livery
https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/ ... y-1012602/

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Re: Moto GP. Aprilia "overestimated itself" when it signed Lowes.

Post by popkat »

Over estimated themselves and gave Lowes a bike that constantly had issues. during qualifying when Aleix would be out putting times in Sam would be sat in the box with no bike to ride, this happened on too many occasions, It's obvious they focused on their number 1 rider and were not really interested in the number 2 rider, small budget maybe ?. But having invested in him and knowing a rookie year isn't easy they should really have stuck with him and given the help he needed, if they couldn't they should have been more honest. I hope Sam got a good payout for them not honouring the contract.

I wonder what their excuse will be when they dump Reading after a year !. It appeared to me when they first signed him it was primarily because he'd ridden the Honda and Ducati, Aprilia are just after the info from him.

For Scott though this can't be bad and could be good. Without this ride I think Reading would have been out of MotoGP this year, maybe back in Moto2 or looking for a superbike ride. If he does as expected which unfortunately is to be number 2 rider and off the pace of his team mate then he'll be out with a quick cheers for the info, ciao Scotty !. But he might surprise us and be really good on the Aprilia, they might give him equal machinery and a reliable bike, if he does that they'll love him at Aprilia and his career will be back on track, If not then It's the end of MotoGP for Scott and a difficult time for Aprilia to find a good number 2 rider as they all would have seen what happened to Sam and Scott.


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Re: Moto GP. Aprilia "overestimated itself" when it signed Lowes.

Post by sirch345 »

I did wonder if there was more to this than meets the eye, "overestimated itself" almost sounds like an excuse in itself IMO.

It certainly appears Sam Lowes was given the sh1ty end of the stick so-to-speak. Like you say, it'll be interesting to see what happens with Scott Reading :-

https://www.autosport.com/motogp/news/1 ... de-aprilia

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Re: Moto GP. Aprilia "overestimated itself" when it signed Lowes.

Post by MacV2 »

At the end of the '18 season when they tot up the parts damage from any offs that Scott has & compare it to the parts bill from Sams season...

Then the "overestimated itself" may seem justifed...

Sam did spend a fair bit of time in the gravel traps last year.

Apparently Aprilla engineers in the factory had to design & build a MotoGP spec bucket & spade for him... :lol:
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Re: Moto GP. Aprilia "overestimated itself" when it signed Lowes.

Post by MacV2 »

In fact Sam won the crash championship for 2017...

https://www.gpone.com/en/2017/11/20/mot ... ashes.html

Honorable mention goes to Wee Mcphee for topping the Moto3 crash list.

Good to see the Brits wining something in MotoGP classes... :lol:
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Re: Moto GP. Aprilia "overestimated itself" when it signed Lowes.

Post by popkat »

Lack of time to qualify = crashes from over riding and/or desperation to get a time in. In the races it's down to riding around problems, or not in the case of most crashes. We all know Sam's quite good at crashing but so is Marquez so there's hope for Sam yet. Mcfee I think had bike issues through the year which limited qualifying time.

The last time sheet I saw for Moto2 testing had Sam at the top so he seems to be getting back in the groove on a 600 again, hope he does well this year.


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Re: Moto GP. Aprilia "overestimated itself" when it signed Lowes.

Post by sirch345 »

MacV2 wrote: Sun Mar 11, 2018 12:37 pm At the end of the '18 season when they tot up the parts damage from any offs that Scott has & compare it to the parts bill from Sams season...

Then the "overestimated itself" may seem justifed...

Sam did spend a fair bit of time in the gravel traps last year.

Apparently Aprilla engineers in the factory had to design & build a MotoGP spec bucket & spade for him... :lol:
You have a point there Mac, although IMHO I think there is more to this than the number of crashes Sam had.

If you don't crash you're not trying hard enough, but if you do you're costing money.

As Malc said, we'll have to see how things work out this year with Scott Redding,

Chris.
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