Cycle News

ROUND 13/OCTOBER 4-6, 2013 CIRCUIT NEVERS MAGNY-COURS/MAGNY-COURS, FRANCE WORLD SUPERBIKE P76 WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP Tom Sykes finds redemption from last year's championship heartbreak and leaves Magny-Cours with a healthy points lead with one round to go. of mind you have. It is never over until it is over and that is why I'm just going to keep my feet on the ground and work away." Behind the leading bunch there were novelties and inter- LOWES TAKES THE PRIZE Yakhnich Yamaha's Sam Lowes used to be a bit of a talented wild-child in international racing terms, fast but falling too often, or just getting too excited and losing opportunities. The measure of his maturity as the new 23-year-old Supersport World Champion, with one round to spare, is that in every race this year he has finished first or second, and qualified first or second. His engine quit on him at Aragon in round two but… hey, not his fault. You can also rate his overall performance by the fact that outgoing champion Kenan Sofuoglu has nothing but good things to say about him. Both riders now have five wins after Sofuoglu won at Magny-Cours - but even the most successful World Supersport rider of all time knew Lowes deserved the title. They have had their moments of spatting and ests aplenty. Michele Pirro was this week's replacement for the injured Carlos Checa, and the GP rider scored sixth in race one, and then fell in race two. It was a weird day all round for him even physical clashing, but on the slow-down lap, as Lowes stopped his bike and the emotion got too much, Sofuoglu came alongside and gave him a hug. Everyone expected a Lowes versus Sofuoglu battle for the win, not many expected fast qualifier Christian Iddon on the ParkinGO MV Agusta to lead for six laps of what was yet another shortened race in France, when – bizarrely - Iddon fell and his bike blocked the track. The appearance of Iddon added a crowd-pleasing unexpected element but on the recently uprated MV - with four or so more horses - Iddon was well worth a podium. There were some hairy moments in the race before Lowes could be king, and he even ran off track at one stage onto the grass. He eventually grew tired of leading so Lowes let Sofuoglu and Iddon past at half race distance and bided his time until he took his big trophy. on the Panigale, but he did well in the opener to record the best Ducati weekend finish. Lorenzo Lanzi committed Italian sacrilege by turning up with a Ducati 1098R Mesaroli Transport privateer bike and beating the factory 1198 R machine of Ayrton Badovini in race two, in his first ride back for some time. The Panigale panic continues. Michel Fabrizio beat Leon Haslam in the first race Pata Honda war, but halfway through race day the team finally found a problem that had been causing issues for their electronics system "This title means everything to me," said Lowes. "My life revolves around this, and I work every day to be where I am now. I think because it came so close in Turkey and here, the pressure was off. It will probably sink in over the next few days what it will mean for my career, my future, for the next few years. It is something I have dreamt about since I was little. I am 23 years old and won a British Supersport title, a World Championship now and I think that is not a bad position to be in." Lowes is off to Moto2. The relatively new Yakhnich World Supersport team is probably going to take MV Agusta Superbikes and Supersport bikes on board in 2014. Lowes will be sad to leave, but in the new Dorna world of passing talent between paddocks, Moto2 is the logical place for him. He has certainly outgrown World Supersport, as there is little more to achieve, given his 2013 stats. "I have qualified first or second and

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