Sykes Impresses: Championship Battle Heats Up

As if MotoGP wasn’t exciting enough for us this past month, the World Superbike Championship (WSBK) saw four high adrenaline races and some of the closest finishing battles of all time.

The fifth WSBK round of the season was held at the British circuit of Donnington Park. ‘Home court advantage’ held up well for Kawasaki Racing’s Tom Sykes as the Englishman won both races in dominant fashion.

Race 1 saw Sykes ride a perfect race as he lead all 23 laps. In the process, Sykes edged out riders like BMW Motorrad’s Marco Melandri who finished in second place as he overtook Aprillia’s championship leader Sylvain Guintoli on the very last turn of the last lap.

Sykes followed up his Race 1 performance with another win to record his maiden double win in the WSBK. The last time a Kawasaki rider was able to secure both race victories dates back to 2000.

Sykes had a huge seven second lead when the chequered flag fell and was followed home by Guintoli and his Aprillia teammate Eugene Laverty, who managed to grab crucial points to keep them in the race for the championship.

More recently, at Portugal’s Portimao circuit, Marco Melandri of BMW won his second race of the season following a fierce battle with championship leader Guintoli in Race 1.

It was one of the most exciting finishes of the season as the BMW rider fought fiercely with Guintoli and ended up winning by just 0.007 seconds – the 4th smallest victory margin ever in a WSBK race.

The two riders were battling it out in the last few laps and in the final corner Melandri made a perfect exit and was able to snatch victory. Tom Sykes put on another brilliant show and managed to finish behind the BMW and Aprilia riders in third place, and he was also the only first row starter to finish the race.

While Laverty retired from Race 1 he made a stunning comeback and took victory in Race 2 to grab his fourth victory of the season to finish ahead of Guintoli and together they completed the third one-two podium finish for Aprilia.

Johnathan Rea of Honda World Superbike was the only rider who was able to keep up with the duo and finished the Race in third.

Sykes had an upset and crashed very early in the race. However, he managed to get back up and made three pit stops before putting the hammer down. Skyes didn’t make a top-15 finish but he managed to set a new lap record of 1:42.475. Guintoli remains the championship leader with 213 points and Sykes is in second with 185. The next round will be held at the Imola circuit in Italy.