WORLD SUPERBKE
WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 9/JULY 13, 2014
MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA/MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
P42
CALIFORNIA
SCREAMING
Kawasaki's Tom Sykes likes being
in California, racing at Laguna and
proving to himself he is faster than any-
body else. He did that so spectacu-
larly in Superpole that even his closest
rivals had to wonder how the reigning
champion got so far ahead.
He even said he had a moment in
the middle of the Corkscrew and yet
still become the first and only Su-
perbike rider so far to dip under the
1:22 bracket, with a new track best of
1:21.811.
He may have been a decent way off
of Jorge Lorenzo's 1:20.554 MotoGP
best, set in 2012, but on a heavy old
Superbike at such an exacting track, it
was a high mark in the sands of time.
Sykes' time was over half a second
quicker than his front row rivals Sylvain
Guintoli and Chaz Davies and came
after a long set-up slog with his team.
They had to change his settings to
allow him to ride fluidly and freely. Add
in the 'newer' Pirelli qualifier originally
seen at Misano and you can make
more Superpole history.
"To take pole here is very exciting
especially after we struggled a bit
earlier this weekend and some of our
competitors have been very strong
here," Sykes said. "Slowly but surely
we have got the bike working much
better and I am a lot more confident
for tomorrow. It is crucial to be on the
front row so when I put a qualifying tire
in I had a little stab at getting the best
lap. I am happy because it is a great
lap time and the guys have all worked
hard in the pit to achieve it."
Guintoli went second and was
amazed at Sykes' time.
"The lap I did felt fast and good. I
made no mistakes, but obviously the
lap that Tom did was out of nowhere,"
said Guintoli. "He was really fast. Half
a second is a lot, especially here. But
he did it, and fair play to him. I take off
my chapeau for that one! The good
news is that I think we have good pace
for the races."
Maybe the most remarkable thing
after Sykes' best lap was the fact that
Davies was on the front row for two
weeks in a row.
After some early issues Davide
Giugliano placed fourth, and Marco
Melandri was fifth.
Eugene Laverty felt his Voltcom
Crescent Suzuki team had addressed
