WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 51 ISSUE 19 MAY 13, 2014 P45
seemingly dutifully stayed behind
the championship leader.
Clearly there were no team or-
ders for Kawasaki at round four
of 13, so Baz swept past with
ease in a safe spot in race two
and Sykes fumed back to fifth.
Sometimes this year Sykes
has been unlucky but this week-
end the usually magical triangle
of rider, KRT crew and factory
ZX10R could not create two wins
like they did so convincingly at
Aragon last month.
"This weekend there is no
question we missed some of our
true performance and we were
not quite on the money," said
Sykes. "I do not think we real-
ized that the gap was as big as
it proved to be. In each race we
had some limitations and unfortu-
nately at this level you cannot ride
around them and make a good
result. It has not been the easiest
weekend, but you cannot have a
perfect weekend every time."
Ducati's Davide Giugliano
could have been a top-five player
in race one but crashed on lap
12. A more cool headed, but al-
most as frustrating, sixth place in
race two was a far cry from his
first Panigale podium in the wet
at Assen.
Starting off the front row at
Imola, he ended up seventh in
the championship points.
He was not the most upset
Italian rider in the paddock, how-
ever.
That accolade went to a cer-
tain Marco Melandri, who at a
circuit he had never podiumed
at before was 14 seconds from
the far less trick Honda of Rea in
race one. Sixth was no good to
him and he was only five seconds
ahead of Eugene Laverty and the
Sykes (1) uses every inch of
the racetrack to try and stay
ahead of Davies in race one.
