Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 17, 2013 I have even heard comments of when I said this in a previous interview, that people said, "Tom is only nervous because Kawasaki have done so much work," but that is nonsense. You only have to look at Kawasaki in Superstock trim. If anything it is going to favor Kawasaki. So I think you will see some manufacturers stand out more than others in Evo, whereas now I think it is a very good playing field across the board. Any other changes need to be made? I think where Superbike has been and is at the moment is great. And I think we would really benefit in going back to two bikes per rider. First and foremost, for safety, and also to keep the show running. If you crash in the session before Superpole then you are not able to attend Superpole; if somebody crashes in warm up it is difficult to make race one, or if they come to the grid with handlebars not even lined up, so they finish working on the bike on the grid. MotoGP has two bikes, and we saw how vital it was to keep their race live in Phillip Island, without two bikes they would have had to completely destroy the race or make a wheel change. I do not see why their races are like this. The Moto2 race was cut short. The World Supersport race was cut short, but the Superbikes run full distance even though we had minor issues with the tires. We were still made to run full dis- tance times two. So bring back the two bikes per rider rule and leave the championship as it is. That is my honest opinion, but I am not the one making the decisions. I am quite confident that going Evo will have big moments where it will delay proceedings, just like we have seen in World " WE HAVE COME IN QUIETLY UNDER THE RADAR AND THE LAST TWO YEARS HAVE BEEN INCREDIBLE. " Supersport many times since the engine restriction. Other than your passion for kart racing, what do you do away from racing? And what is next for you? I am going to go home and I need to replace some fascias on my new shed. I have some DIY work to do. I am going to do that with an unbelievable smile on my face. I have worked very hard all year to get to here. And, like I said, we have a nice testing schedule. It will be busy with various shows and so on, so I am sure Kawasaki will keep me honest with some promotional work. My wife, Amy, is expecting our first child at the back end of November and it is going to be very P97 busy. So I am going to get everything ready for that, enjoy December and come out swinging in January. That's quite detailed. Are you ready for the fame side of it now? You always seem to just want to be Tom Sykes, go home after races and have a happy quiet life. You seem quite content that racing is your main dose of excitement? It is true. I can guarantee there will be a number of riders in this paddock who if they had won the championship their Twitter account would have known, etc. It is just the way they are, and I am just the way I am. All I have done is enjoy it and I have had an incredible amount of texts from people and I think they know I cannot get back to all of them soon, but I will try because I appreciate the support. I am grounded. I woke up this morning, one day after winning the title, and I was handed a schedule of work and you realize there will be responsibilities that come with winning. I am going to be honest with the team to juggle it and manage it in the best way. It is incredible what we have done and everybody is so happy. So we just need to not get carried away and dilute the situation, but it is such a happy moment and I will be home in the next couple of days. Baby coming end of November and it is going to be nice you know. Perfect timing because this winter is just going to be incredible emotions for a couple of reasons. CN

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