G
VOL. 50 ISSUE 48 DECEMBER 3, 2013
P47
BY ALAN CATHCART
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEL EDGE
B
y winning the 2013 World
Superbike
Championship for Kawasaki, Tom
Sykes not only made up for the
bitter disappointment of losing
out to Max Biaggi and Aprilia for
the 2012 title by a measly half
a point, he also regained the
number-one plate for the brand
which has been most closely
associated with Superbike racing ever since its 1970s origins
in the USA. Indeed, Kawasaki
practically invented Superbike
racing more than 30 years ago,
when Reg Pridmore, Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey tangled
handlebars and rubbed elbows
all across America aboard their
wheel-waving, tire-smoking, naked-as-nature-intended KZ1000
in-line fours, with each of them
winning the AMA Superbike title
for Kawasaki.
But it's been exactly 20 years
since the only other time Kawasaki won the World Superbike
title in 1993, courtesy of yet another American, Scott Russell so
it was time for the Green Meanies to get on top again, and that's
where Sykes has put them. This
time around the Brit won nine of
the 27 races held in 2013, finishing on the podium a total of 18
times, while also blitzing to 14 pole
positions. And his young French
teammate Loris Baz underlined
the Kawasaki's worth with his own
race victory at Silverstone, for the
second year in succession.
