IN
THE
WIND
P34
SYKES' DROUGHT ENDS
WITH DONINGTON DOUBLE
H
aving not won a race since
Laguna Seca in July last
year, 2014 World Superbike
Champion Tom Sykes could not
have picked a better venue to
soak his dry spell up with two
lashings of champagne.
The Kawasaki Racing Team
rider loves Donington, and not
just because it is his home
track. He and his Kawasaki have
become almost unbeatable at
the schizophrenic 2.5-mile cir-
cuit, with the first corners all fast
and the last bit all hairpins and
chicanery.
Sykes is at a loss to explain
why he likes Donington or why it
loves him back, but after starting
the season looking like he may
never win a race under the new
technical rules, he won both 23-
lap contests fair and square.
It was a transformational day
in many ways, and a weekend
laden with much-missed suc-
cess coming back to visit.
"I did not realize that now I
have the same wins at Doning-
ton as Carl Fogarty, so that is a
little bit of history, and six wins
on the bounce sure feels nice,"
said Sykes.
He grew some big numbers
on race day, taking his win total
to 26 in his career, leaving with
the new Superpole best lap and
a new lap record of 1:27.640
that stunned and amazed all
who saw the figures made real.
Having been caught up in
some roughhousing early in
race one before running clear of
teammate Jonathan Rea, Sykes,
made sure his first two laps of
Tom Sykes earned
his sixth-straight
win at Donington
to earn his first
win since Laguna
Seca last year.
