ROUND 12/SEPTEMBER 28-29, 2013
MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA/MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
WORLD SUPERBIKE
P58
WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
Chaz Davies (19) led
most of the third portion
of race one, but the
BMW factory rider was
eventually passed and
beaten by Sykes (66).
as they got hotter in the increasing temperatures, but in any case
only 16 riders made the final restart, and a sprint of 12 laps.
It was clash city rockers from
the start, as Sykes and Guintoli
came together at the scary turn
one kink, and each lost ground
to BMW's Chaz Davies and Melandri. Guintoli, who had been
the man to beat in the first two
runs, was third for a bit until
Sykes went past, after Guintoli
had tried to pass Melandri at turn
11, and lost himself a place in the
process.
The pace had been fierce in
the first two attempts, but in the
final one Guintoli lost some pure
speed to drop to fifth, and Laver-
ty would regain some to go third.
Davies, who had led for most of
the race, was finally passed by
Sykes with two and a bit laps
to go and the Kawasaki rider
piled on the pressure to take a
1.253-second win from the BMW
rider and the Aprilia of Laverty.
Sykes was determined and
bullish at winning his seventh
race of 2013, a full-pointer despite its 12-lap duration.
"We had to fight for that one,"
Sykes said. "There are always
some comments that I am not
able to fight back, but I think
there is proof that we can. When
the ZX-10R is working well I am
able to do what everybody else
can do. The three starts were not
ideal. A bit of pain in the arse to
be honest and it takes the shine
off things."
Melandri was a hacked off
fourth, but the big race-one missing person was Guintoli, who
looked so good for a win more
than once but got nothing but 22
points behind Sykes.
He had mysteriously lost his
rhythm and fifth was all he could
get.
Many were surprised that
Aprilia did not get Laverty to drop
back a bit to let Guintoli limit his
points damage, but Laverty was
having none of that – giving no
favors to anyone.
Davies, a former AMA rider,
was just stoked to have been on
