VOL. 50 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 22, 2013
K
awasaki's Tom Sykes did
enough in the first race of
the final round of the 2013
World Championship to take the
title and put his name in the history books as only the second
Kawasaki rider to be crowned
king - 20 years after Scott Russell in 1993.
Having lost the title so agonizingly in 2012 - by half a point on
the final day at Magny-Cours - it
was Magny-Cours and his double
win there that set Sykes up for
the big win in such strong fashion
at Jerez. With his 37-point lead,
third in race one would have
been enough. And it was.
Unable to stick with eventual
double race winner Eugene Laverty or Marco Melandri in race
one, Sykes managed the gap
back to another one-time championship rival Sylvain Guintoli in
fourth. That meant it was impossible for Laverty or anybody else
to beat his total with one race left
to go.
Sykes
CROWNED!
BY GORDON RITCHIE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
P81
Briefly...
The Crescent Suzuki team will be
back in the World Superbike paddock in 2014 and they hope to retain
their main sponsor Fixi and other
technical partners and sponsors.
The rider line-up is still not sure but
the prospect of Jules Cluzel staying
on board appear to be increased by
the fact that he's yet to sign with a
Moto2 team. Leon Camier may also
return, as he tries to make the breakthrough to the race winner status
that his pace shows to be in races
on regular occasions. They are also
very keen to sign Eugene Laverty,
who may well test for the team on
Tuesday after Jerez.
The tensions between Ducati Corse
and Alstare have been palpable all
year, and now there may be a twist
in the tail. Having been struggling to
find a role in 2014, Feel Racing may
take over the official Ducati Superbike team, as they used to run before. If this is the case, the Alstare
team will most likely be a privateer effort, with Aprilia machinery. A meeting between Ducati and Alstare in
Bologna in a few days will determine
what happens now.
The Yakhnich Racing and MV Agusta tie-up is now almost done, with
just the details of the proposed deal
being worked out now. The plan is to
have one full Superbike-spec rider,
probably an Italian, and two World
Supersport riders - one top competitor from this year and maybe one of
the existing riders, Christian Iddon
or Roby Rolfo. The project will be
a substantial undertaking, with MV
Agusta using their racing experienccontinued on next page
