Tom Sykes scored his third double race win of the season at Magny Cours today and in doing so took a strong 37 point lead with only one round of the championship remaining. In the first race Sykes was not seriously threatened after he headed off into the lead at lap record pace, taking a new best lap in race conditions of 1’38.345. He would go on and beat in an even more impressive race two performance.
In the opening race, scheduled for 23 laps, Tom had a two second advantage over Sylvain Guintoli as the laps timed down. When a red flag was shown to halt the race because of a bike laying on track on fire, Sykes was declared the winner and, as enough laps had been completed to call it a full result, he was awarded full points.
The second race also did not quite go the full distance and when rains started towards the end, two riders crashed behind Tom. A red flag was shown to halt proceedings again and this time Sykes was 11.091 seconds ahead in the final race results. On lap four of race two Tom set a final new lap record, 1’37.932. This was Tom’s ninth race win of 2013, the 14th of his career.
Tom Sykes
“It is great to score a double win here and we made two small changes in the bike to race two. We are always chasing perfection. That is what we spend our lives doing. When you are on the edge all the time you have got very small changes that make a big outcome. The bike was very nice to ride today and the races went very well. When the circuit and conditions suit a bike and rider you have to take the most advantage from it. Magny Cours was generous to me, the bike and all at Kawasaki, so this was great. It was spitting with rain at the end of race two and that was difficult to manage, even though I had a big gap and not much pressure. I was sliding the rear a lot. We still have some work to do but the good thing is that we have been there or thereabouts all season.”
Eugene Laverty
“Tom today was from another planet, I tried to follow him in the early laps but out of the slow corners earned too much ground. Towards the end I Sylvain and we battled, usually these situations because I do not love and respect him because we are both still in the running for the title, but every point is important at this stage of the season. I’m glad the two results, of course, even if our goal was to reduce the gap to the summit. Between Race 1 and Race 2 we have improved the bike, I was definitely faster but apparently it was not enough. Remains Jerez groped for the latest assault on the World Drivers’.
Sylvain Guintoli
“Race 2 was exciting, a great battle with Eugene. Too bad about not being able to be with Tom, it was really too fast. I hope I have not done too much damage to shoulder with the fall, unfortunately I had the visor full of gnats and did not see the slippery patches. In Race 1 I was able to not lose too much ground in the last laps I tried to take Tom but the red flag stopped us. In Jerez will be hard to recover, this is true, but we still have a mathematical chance of winning then I’ll try until the end to round off this Championship. “
2013 WSBK Magny Cours Race 1 results
- 1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 29’38.830
- 2. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 29’40.976
- 3. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 29’49.473
- 4. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 29’54.517
- 5. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 30’02.403
- 6. Michele Pirro (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale 30’12.678
- 7. Michel Fabrizio (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 30’16.429
- 8. Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 30’16.733
- 9. Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale 30’17.011
- 10. Lorenzo Lanzi (Mesaroli Transports A.S.) Ducati 1098R 30’30.434
- 11. David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 30’33.572
- 12. Federico Sandi (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 30’42.272
- 13. Vincent Philippe (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 30’46.006
- 14. Fabrizio Lai (MR-Racing) Ducati 1199 Panigale 31’03.680
- 15. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Grillini Dentalmatic SBK) BMW S1000 RR 31’05.908
- RT. Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 30’38.548
- RT. Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 25’48.876
- RT. Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 3’22.383
- RT. Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 4’07.271
2013 WSBK Magny Cours Race 2 results
- 1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 34’36.149
- 2. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 34’47.240
- 3. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 34’47.486
- 4. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 34’59.157
- 5. Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 35’01.873
- 6. Vincent Philippe (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 35’10.911
- 7. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 35’12.368
- 8. Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 35’17.106
- 9. Lorenzo Lanzi (Mesaroli Transports A.S.) Ducati 1098R 35’19.862
- 10. Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale 35’29.337
- 11. David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 35’32.400
- 12. Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 35’40.197
- 13. Federico Sandi (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 35’40.392
- 14. Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 35’46.495
- 15. Fabrizio Lai (MR-Racing) Ducati 1199 Panigale 36’05.590
- RT. Michel Fabrizio (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 21’48.713
- RT. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Grillini Dentalmatic SBK) BMW S1000 RR 20’40.188
- RT. Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 11’45.088
- RT. Michele Pirro (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale 3’24.776
