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Eugene Laverty takes the double on Tom Sykes’ dream day

By October 20, 2013December 13th, 2019WorldSBK

Eugene Laverty takes the double on Tom Sykes’ dream day

WorldSBK By October 20, 2013 December 13th, 2019

Tom Sykes 66 Eugene Laverty 58 Strip

Jerez (Spain), Sunday 20 October 2013 –   British rider Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) sealed the 2013  Superbike World Championship overnight at the Jerez circuit in Spain, after a sensational season haul of nine race wins and eight superpoles, 18 podiums and 13 fastest laps.

The 28 year old rider from Huddersfield England delivered a solid race one on his Kawasaki ZX-10R to finish in a safe third and seal the title, before finishing second in race two.    His Jerez results bring his podium tally for the season to 18 and his championships point tally to 447 to win the crown.

Aprilia rider Eugene Laverty took two victories at Jerez, his ninth race win of the season, and finished second in the title chase, 23 points behind Sykes, on 424 points.   Aprilia rider, Sylvain Guintoli was third on 402 points.

Sykes win was particularly sweet for Kawasaki, a long twenty years after their last world crown, won by Scott Russell in 1993.

Sykes knew that at Jerez, the test track of most of his rivals, he would have his work cut out to win but he also knew that he did not have to take race victories to take the championship title and walked away content with a third and second place.

He also took the new lap record at Jerez today with a 1’41.691 in race two, his 13th fastest lap of the season.  Sykes also led for 255 laps over the whole season, more than twice the total of the next best rider.

The championship win was particularly sweet for the entire Kawasaki Racing Team as they missed out on the title with Sykes by only half a point in 2012.

Race one – Eugene Laverty wins race one as Tom Sykes clinches the title

Tom Sykes of the Kawasaki Racing Team clinched the 2013 FIM Superbike World Championship in race one of the Jerez round, with his third place good enough to and seal his first ever world title.   It was Sykes’ fifth year of racing in the world championship, and his victory brings the title back to Kawasaki after 20 long years – the last one dated back to 1993 and was won by Scott Russell.

Today’s first race was won by Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) after a superb final lap overtake on Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrrad GoldBet), on the outside, at the last turn. The two riders pulled away in the early laps, with Laverty leader for most of race until the penultimate tour, when the Italian passed the Irishman at turn six. Thanks to Laverty’s win, Aprilia retains the manufacturers’ title.

Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) finished a lonely fourth, ahead of Toni Elias (Red Devils Aprilia) and Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia), both unable to repeat on the race distance the competitive lap-times set in free practice and qualifying. Race one’s top ten was completed by Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet), Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki), Xavi Fores (Team Ducati Alstare) and Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini Kawasaki).

Results: 1. Laverty (Aprilia) 21 Laps/92.820 km in 36’00.919 average 154.634 kph; 2. Melandri (BMW) 0.218; 3. Sykes (Kawasaki) 6.681; 4. Guintoli(Aprilia) 9.327; 5. Elias (Aprilia) 20.446; 6. Giugliano (Aprilia) 27.633; 7. Davies (BMW) 28.621; 8. Camier (Suzuki) 29.548; 9. Fores (Ducati) 29.964; 10. Aitchison (Kawasaki) 36.981; 11. Cluzel (Suzuki) 37.008; 12. Barrier (BMW) 43.179; 13. Badovini (Ducati) 47.260; 14. Neukirchner (Ducati) 52.154;15. Lanzi (Ducati) 52.912; 16. Sandi (Kawasaki) 54.414; 17. Fabrizio (Honda) 1’02.109; 18. Parkes (Yamaha) 1’02.568; 19. Iannuzzo (BMW) 6 Laps; RT. Haslam (Honda).

Race 2  – Laverty takes the double while Sykes settles for second as world champion

After sealing the world title, Kawasaki’sTom Sykes gathered his concentration to lead for 13 laps of the 21 lap battle, before Irishman, Eugene Laverty aboard the Aprilia, overtook the new world champ to claim his second double-win of the season and his ninth race victory –the  same number of season wins as Sykes. Other works Aprilia rider Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) completed the podium by crossing the line a lonely third, ahead of Toni Elias (Red Devils Aprilia), Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) and Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki).

Lorenzo Lanzi (Mesaroli A.S. Ducati) finished his weekend on a positive note as he ended up 7th, followed by Jules Cluzel (FIXI Crescent Suzuki), Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) and Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia). Local Xavi Forés (Team Ducati Alstare) crashed out of Turn 1 right after the start of the race, due to a collision with another rider, while Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) did not line up on the grid due to the injured ankle that bothered him also in the first race.

Tom Sykes: “Words cannot describe how I feel. I am very level headed but since Magny-Cours there are moments where my mind started dreaming. When I was dreaming I had goose bumps and it was magical to even dream I could be world champion. But that was maybe 2% of what I am feeling now after winning the title. It was good for the championship that it got decided at the final round again, especially here with these great fans. My team is mostly Spanish so it is a home round for them. The championship win has not fully sunk in yet but it will do soon, I’m sure.”

Eugene Laverty: “Two wins that came in different ways, as the second one was kind of easier because I was able to pull away from Tom once I got passed him. I’m happy with this double-win that extended our podium streak in the final part of the season. It’s a shame that we lost some points early on in the year, but I’m not the type of guy who likes to make excuses. Second place overall is a great result, as well as the Manufacturers’ title.”

Results Race 2: 1. Laverty (Aprilia) 21 Laps/92.820 km in 36’05.989 average 154.272 kph; 2. Sykes (Kawasaki) 2.711; 3. Guintoli (Aprilia) 5.710; 4. Elias (Aprilia) 15.509; 5. Davies (BMW) 21.830; 6. Camier (Suzuki) 26.558; 7. Lanzi (Ducati) 30.840; 8. Cluzel (Suzuki) 33.056; 9. Aitchison (Kawasaki) 36.299; 10. Giugliano (Aprilia) 40.867; 11. Neukirchner (Ducati) 44.308; 12. Parkes (Yamaha) 52.483; 13. Barrier (BMW) 53.674; 14. Fabrizio (Honda) 1’20.316; 15. Sandi (Kawasaki) 3 Laps; RT. Haslam (Honda); RT. Badovini (Ducati); RT. Fores (Ducati); RT. Iannuzzo (BMW); NS. Melandri (BMW).

Final Season Standings: 1. Sykes 447; 2. Laverty 424; 3. Guintoli 402; 4. Melandri 359; 5. Davies 290; 6. Giugliano 211; 7. Fabrizio 188; 8. Baz 180; 9. Rea 176; 10. Cluzel 175; 11. Camier 132; 12. Badovini 130; 13. Haslam 91; 14. Neukirchner 91; 15. Checa 80; 16. Elias 70; 17. Sandi 55; 18. Aitchison 46; 19. Iannuzzo 27; 20. Lanzi 23; 21. Salom 22; 22. Clementi 18; 23. Philippe 13; 24. Canepa 12; 25. Lai 11; 26. Pirro 10; 27. Lundh 10; 28. Hayden 8; 29. Young 8; 30. Fores 7; 31. Barrier 7; 32. Reiterberger 7; 33. Allerton 6; 34. Uprak 5; 35. Parkes 4; 36. Smrz 4; 37. Stauffer 4; 38. Ercelik 3; 39. Eslick 2; 40. Akiyoshi 2; 41. Haga 2. Manufacturers: Aprilia 550; 2. Kawasaki 501; 3. BMW 443; 4. Suzuki 243; 5. Honda 236; 6. Ducati 185; 7. Yamaha 8.

World Supersport

Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) put the icing on the cake of his title-winning season by crossing the line victorious after the 20-lap World Supersport final race of 2013. The Englishman had his last, successful battle, with Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki): the Turk did his best to keep the lead after several overtaking manoeuvres, but Lowes managed to pass him once more, with two laps to go, and pulled away for the win.

Roberto Rolfo (ParkinGO MV Agusta Corse) had the better of Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport) for third, whilst other Pata Honda rider Lorenzo Zanetti ended up fifth with a 23-second gap from the winner. Riccardo Russo (Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) edged Kev Coghlan (DMC-Lorenzini Kawasaki) to finish in sixth place and Sheridan Morais (PTR Honda) did the same on Vladimir Leonov (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) for eight position.

Results: 1. Lowes (Yamaha) 20 Laps/88.400 km in 34’59.865 average 151.553 kph; 2. Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) 2.117; 3. Rolfo (MV Agusta) 7.966; 4. Vd Mark (Honda) 9.714; 5. Zanetti (Honda) 23.643; 6. Russo (Kawasaki) 25.234; 7. Coghlan (Kawasaki) 25.427; 8. Morais (Kawasaki) 27.025; 9. Leonov (Yamaha) 27.173; 10. Foret (Kawasaki) 29.371; 11. Webb (Honda) 32.277; 12. Tamburini (Honda) 34.439; 13. Salom (Kawasaki) 34.585; 14. Scholtz (Suzuki) 36.110; 15. Faccani (Honda) 37.103; etc.

Final Standings: 1. Lowes 250; 2. Sofuoglu 201; 3. Foret 140; 4. Vd Mark 130; 5. Zanetti 119; 6. Rolfo 78; 7. Kennedy 76; 8. Scassa 75; 9. Coghlan 71; 10. Leonov 63; 11. Antonelli 55; 12. Morais 55; 13. Marino 53; 14. Russo 48; 15. Iddon 45; etc. Manufacturers: 1. Kawasaki 270; 2. Yamaha 258; 3. Honda 165; 4. MV Agusta 104; 5. Suzuki 38; 6. Triumph 6.

Pictures, Videos and much more on energyzone.worldsbk.com (sign-up for free to the Press Area)

For further information:  Ingrid Roepers at IRPR on iroepers@irpr.com.au or mobile 04 111 989 44 

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