ROUND 12/SEPTEMBER 28-29, 2013
MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA/MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
P54
BACK IN BLA
WORLD SUPERBIKE
WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
Sykes and Laverty split wins in World Superbike's return to Lagu
BY GORDON RITCHIE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
I
t looks like the 2013 Superbike
World Championship is going
to be a green and black battle
after Kawasaki's Tom Sykes and
Aprilia's Eugene Laverty took a
win apiece at Mazda Raceway
Laguna Seca. For Sykes the un-
usual Saturday/Sunday format
worked well right up to a few laps
from the end of race two, but
even with his fourth-place finish
he still extended his championship lead to 23 points – but not
over his old rival and Superpole
man, Sylvain Guintoli.
"I led race two for a long time
today, but that was the first time
we have struggled with grip all
weekend," said Sykes. "It was
surprising because normally over
race distance we could do 23.9
