WSBK: Tom Sykes storms to Championship lead after double win at Imola

Race 1 podium - Winner Sykes (Kawasaki) 2nd Giugliano (Aprilia) 3rd Laverty (Aprilia)

Imola (Italy), Sunday 30 June 2013 – Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) completed a fantastic double-win at Imola, his second in 2013, to become the new Championship leader. The Hudderfield-born rider has led every single lap of Race 2 to cross the line as the winner for the 10th time in his WSBK career and, thanks to his 5th first place finish of the year, to equal the number of individual wins he was able to achieve in the last two seasons combined. After the disappointment of the first race, Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) redeemed himself to end up a lonely second ahead of works Aprilia rider Sylvain Guintoli.

Fourth place Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) edged his team mate Chaz Davies for fourth place at the very last lap, while Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) won the battle for sixth ahead of Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki). Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Aprilia) managed to pulled away in the end for from a still recuperating Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) and fellow Italian Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) for 8th.

Today’s second race saw two potential protagonists out of contention in the early stages, as Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia) crashed at Turn 7 during the second lap, while trying to keep Sykes’ pace, and Eugene Laverty fell off his bike at Turn 18, on lap number six.

Tom Sykes in action at Imola

Race 1

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) dominated Race 1 at Imola to score his 9^th career win, the 4^th this year. Today’s pole-sitter managed to pull away from 2^nd place Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia) halfway through the race, keeping a strong pace that only the young Italian was able to match, in the first part.

Sykes had a controlled approach in the early laps, making his way up from 4^th to the lead, then started making the difference as the race progressed. Giugliano did all he could to stay with the winner, eventually finishing a lonely second, that means his first podium since 2012 Race 1 at Misano.

Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) achieved a solid 3^rd place ahead Marco Melandri (BWM Motorrad GoldBet), as the home rider lapped really close to his former team mate, but couldn’t get in contention for the podium. The two riders saw a recovering Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) getting in the mix until the Ulsterman crashed out of Turn 19, during the nineteenth lap, not long after he moved up to 4^th place. Rea got the hole-shot at the start, before running wide at Turn 6 and rejoining in 11^th position. Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Aprilia) finished 5^th after a good battle with Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) and Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki).

The Championship standings situation is now tighter than ever on top, following Sykes’ win and the unlucky withdrawal of Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), due to a technical problem on Lap 6: the Frenchman keeps the lead, but Sykes is now just 3 points behind.

Race 1 results: 1. Sykes (Kawasaki) 21 Laps/103.656 km in 37’52.860 average 164.182 kph; 2. Giugliano (Aprilia) 7.198; 3. Laverty (Aprilia) 9.484; 4. Melandri (BMW) 10.323; 5. Fabrizio (Aprilia) 18.697; 6. Davies (BMW) 19.531; 7. Camier (Suzuki) 22.412; 8. Badovini (Ducati) 29.142; 9. Baz (Kawasaki) 36.828; 10. Haslam (Honda) 37.507; 11. Checa (Ducati) 39.239; 12. Neukirchner (Ducati) 43.334; 13. Sandi (Kawasaki) 1’12.069; 14. Iannuzzo (BMW) 1’30.685; 15. Haga (BMW) 1’30.773; RT. Rea (Honda); RT. Cluzel (Suzuki); RT. Guintoli (Aprilia).

Race 2

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) completed a fantastic double-win at Imola, his second in 2013, to become the new Championship leader. The Huddersfield-born rider has led every single lap of Race 2 to cross the line as the winner for the 10^th time in his WSBK career and, thanks to his 5^th first place finish of the year, to equal the number of individual wins he was able to achieve in the last two seasons combined. After the disappointment of the first race, Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) redeemed himself to end up a lonely second ahead of works Aprilia rider Sylvain Guintoli.

Race 2 results: 1. Sykes (Kawasaki) 21 Laps/103.656 km in 37’51.947 average 164.247 kph; 2. Rea (Honda) 5.032; 3. Guintoli (Aprilia) 10.201; 4. Melandri (BMW) 13.120; 5. Davies (BMW) 13.630; 6. Baz (Kawasaki) 23.949; 7. Camier (Suzuki) 25.420; 8. Fabrizio (Aprilia) 36.511; 9. Haslam (Honda) 40.184; 10. Badovini (Ducati) 41.100; 11. Cluzel (Suzuki) 42.888; 12. Checa (Ducati) 52.182; 13. Neukirchner (Ducati) 56.352; 14. Sandi (Kawasaki) 1’15.992; 15. Haga (BMW) 1’25.210; etc.

Standings – provisional (round 7 of 15)*: 1. Sykes 235; 2. Guintoli 229; 3. Laverty 190; 4. Melandri 182; 5. Davies 154; 6. Baz 136; 7. Rea 125; 8. Fabrizio 120; 9. Giugliano 99; 10. Camier 80; 11. Cluzel 77; 12. Neukirchner 60; 13. Checa 59; 14. Badovini 59; 15. Haslam 42. Manufacturers: 1. Aprilia 289; 2. Kawasaki 259; 3. BMW 237; 4. Honda 138; 5. Suzuki 122; 6. Ducati 96.

* Possible updated results could be defined by the International Disciplinary Court which is dealing with the appeal lodged by Aprilia Racing Team and rider Sylvain Guintoli, following the decision taken by the FIM Stewards in Monza (Italian Round, last 12 May) to cancel the drop of position sanction (from third to fourth place in race 2) imposed by the Race Direction on rider Tom Sykes.