For the championship though,
it was Sykes who found a degree
of Teflon coating for a change.
Far from just defending his
championship lead in some form
or other, at a track he knows is
not the best for his ZX-10R, he
dug deep on a spinning rear tire
in race one to take third place,
six seconds behind race-one
winner Marco Melandri and five
off second-placed Aprilia Racing
rider Sylvian Guintoli. The French
rider would also finish second
VOL. 51 ISSUE 28 JULY 15, 2014 P39
Briefly...
Luca Scassa was prevented from
riding his Pedercini Kawasaki Evo
bike at Laguna Seca because the
doctors on site said that his right
hip injury – which features three
long screws to hold the ball end of
his hip joint in place - has not yet
fully healed. "I did not even get the
chance to try," said Scassa. "In Por-
timao I was allowed to start, but not
here. I should be okay for the restart
in the season because the bones
have not been knitted together fully
yet. Another two months they say
that should be enough for the bones
to heal."
The Kawasaki Mahi Racing Team's
lone Evo rider Fabien Foret was not
in America for the Laguna race as
the team stated that he had two en-
gines go at the previous round and
that left them with no engines to be
transported in time to get to Laguna
a few days later. The team has been
undergoing financial issues in recent
times, but they are expected to be
back for the race at Jerez in early
September.
The schedule at Laguna Seca was
bizarre in the extreme with three
practice sessions that counted for
qualifying all on the opening day,
then a short 30-minute free practice
session for the World Superbike rid-
ers on Saturday morning - before two
15-minute Superpole sessions very
early on Saturday afternoon, starting
at 1 p.m. With an AMA Pro Racing un-
dercard there was lots of track action
on both opening days, but very little
World Superbike action on Saturday.
After the expected beautiful midsum-
mer weather at Laguna Seca, the
first qualifying session dawned with
continued on next page
The first of two World
Superbike races
at Mazda Raceway
Laguna Seca featured
a battle up front
between Aprilia
factory teammates
Marco Melandri (33)
and Sylvain Guintoli
(50) and Kawasaki's
Tom Sykes (1).
