Sykes doubles up as Sofuoaglu Wins for Mahi

Twenty seven-year-old Tom Sykes doubled up at the former Grand Prix circuit Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari at Imola, Italy by winning both races in World Superbike Championship (WSBK) round there.

The Brit has been pretty much on a roll since the second race of the second round at Aragon, Spain where he finished third. He’s scored five wins and hasn’t been off the podium except for the second round at Portimao where he was not classified.

And yet he is only seven points ahead of France’s Aprilia rider Sylvain Guintoli, who has just one win but six second place finishes to his name.

It took a retirement and a third place finish for Sykes to get even that much breathing room with seven of the 15 round championship done and dusted.
Seven rounds done at the time of this issue going to press, that is as the eighth round of the championship at the Moscow Raceway would have concluded.

It’s unlikely that the events at the 3.9 kilometer long circuit 97 km outside of the Russian capital – which opened last July – will change what is essentially a two-horse race for the WSBK title race between Sykes and Guintoli.

Occasionally Aprillia’s Eugene Laverty and BMW’s Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies have stolen the spotlight with two wins each, but the highest placed rider among them is still 39 points behind Guintoli.

A similar two-horse race has emerged in the WSBK’s support series; World Supersport where Yamaha’s Sam Lowes and Turk Kenan Sofuoaglu are noticeably ahead of the chasing pack. The gap, however, is a lot larger than that between the top two in WSBK.

Sofuoaglu trails Lowes by 34 points and is likely to be the rider two-wheel racing enthusiasts in India will be rooting for the most. Reason being that he competes under the colours of the Mahi Racing Team, India’s cricket captain MS Dhoni’s foray as a racing team owner.

Sofuoaglu put big smiles on the face of those waiting for the final round of the championship at the Buddh International Circuit by scoring a win at Imola.
A third place, followed by a win in race two puts the Turk 21 points ahead of third placed Fabien Foret. Sofuoaglu has finished on the podium in every race he’s finished so far, which should make his two retirements seem all the more costly for his championship aspirations.

It remains to be seen if the fallout will cause the final round in India to become a non-event in terms of the title battle.