Jerez: Laverty double winner, Sykes 2013 WSBK champion !
The contract was fulfilled for Tom Sykes from the first Spanish round: third this afternoon in Jerez, the English Ninja won the 2013 World Superbike Championship! Eugene Laverty nevertheless distinguished himself by signing his second double… To become the 2013 Superbike world champion, Tom Sykes had to secure at least one place today …
The contract was fulfilled for Tom Sykes from the first Spanish round: third this midday in Jerez, the English Ninja won the 2013 Superbike World Championship! Eugene Laverty nevertheless distinguished himself by signing his second double…
To become the 2013 Superbike world champion, Tom Sykes had to secure at least one place on the podium today. But it was done from the first race, the English Ninja finishing third behind a flamboyant Laverty and a courageous – because injured – Melandri.
"Abandoned" by Marco – too ill to take the start – Eugene won more easily in the second round ahead of the new world champion SBK and Sylvain Guintoli. Aprilia riders partially console themselves by offering their brand the constructor title…
In the Supersport category, the new champion Sam Lowes and the triple champion Kenan Sofuoglu fought a final battle. Titled at Magny-Cours, the Yamaha rider wins a sixth time and shows Jerez that he was indeed the best SSP rider this year. !
First Superbike race
Poleman Eugene Laverty starts ahead of Tom Sykes, Marco Melandri, Davide Giugliano, Sylvain Guintoli, Toni Elias, Chaz Davies, Leon Camier, Xavi Fores, Mark Aitchison. Sylvain Barrier and Jules Cluzel are respectively 15th and 16th.
In the first lap, our national n ° 50 climbed to fourth place but was slightly behind the leading trio (n ° 58, 66 and 33). At the same time, "Guinters" moves away from the two private RSV4s n ° 24 and 34…
Melandri brakes beautifully at the end of the opposite straight line and dives under the No. 66 Kawasaki in the "Dry Sac" hairpin. The Italian sets a new race lap record, the old one dating from the WSBK’s only visit to Jerez in 1990: a certain Raymond Roche was the fastest! Cluzel climbs to 14th place, Barrier is still 15th.
In two turns, Marco finds himself in the wheel of Aprilia n ° 58, but the Hedgehog does not launch an attack. Tom Sykes is just one second behind the two leading men: as a reminder, the third place he occupies would be enough to offer him the title !
Sylvain Guintoli remains in fourth place, half a second behind the English Ninja. Toni Elias completes the Top 5 and runs at the same times as the Fantastic Four. Giugliano is further behind: the n ° 34 is more than five seconds behind at the end of the sixth lap.
Further still, Davies, Camier, Aitchison and Fores complete the Top 10. Cluzel continues to recover and is in 11th position. Barrier won a place: n ° 20 is fourteenth, 15 seconds behind Laverty, but only one second behind Jules !
Laverty continues to whip his Aprilia and forces Melandri to delay – sometimes miss! – his braking … In the 9th lap, "Yudjine" raises his voice again and wins half a second ahead of Marco. Tom and Sylvain are respectively 2.5 and 3.2 seconds behind the Irishman at the end of the 10th lap.
Leon Haslam returned to the pits on lap 11, quite annoyed by the poor performance of his Fireblade. Fabrizio remains on track in Jonathan Rea’s Honda in a very disappointing 16th place, three seconds behind Max Neukirchner and his private 1199 Panigale.
At the start of the 13th lap, the leading duo definitively dropped their pursuers: Laverty and Melandri are more than three seconds ahead of Sykes, chased by a Guintoli who can still delay the coronation of "Major Tom". Elias is not a threat, neither on the track nor in the championship.
In the lead since the red lights went out, Laverty feels – hears! – Melandri approaching him at the end of the race. Five laps from the end, the famous n ° 33 seems able to pass in front of n ° 58 but remains in second position.
Five seconds behind, Sykes controlled his lead of a good second over Guintoli. Elias is still riding alone in fifth position, far ahead of Giugliano, Davies, Camier and Fores. Cluzel is eleventh but covets Aitchison’s Top 10.
Two laps from the end, Laverty and Melandri continue to post excellent and very close lap times. The Italian again delays his braking in the straight line of the circuit, completely misses the rope in "Dry Bag" but blocks the Irishman on the outside and comes out of the turn in the lead !
Eugene Laverty stays in the aspiration of the BMW and carefully prepares his attack in the last corner of Jerez: a classic! Convinced that n ° 58 will retaliate via a "block pass" type attack, Melandri squeezes as much as possible in the entrance of the last pin…
But Laverty, on the contrary, maintains his trajectory – and therefore his speed! – usual and double his opponent on the outside! The Irishman dives towards the rope and recovers "his" first place, which he keeps without difficulty until the checkered flag.
Third, Tom Sykes can finally let his joy explode: a year after being beaten by Biaggi for a half point, the Kawasaki rider won the world title one round before the end! The title "manufacturer" is also assured, but at Aprilia…
Supersport Race
Kenan Sofuoglu gets the best start at the controls of his Kawasaki followed by MV Agusta of Rolfo and Iddon. Poleman Lowes is fourth ahead of Baldolini, Van den Mark, Russo, Zanetti, Roccoli, Webb, etc. From the first lap, Lowes climbed to third position.
Iddon widens in the last corner and allows the three leaders to widen a slight gap on the peloton on the second lap. Chris instantly goes on the attack and in turn lets go of Baldolini’s Suzuki, posted in front of Van den Mark’s Honda and Russo’s Kawasaki..
At the very beginning of the 3rd loop, Lowes ejects – almost literally! – Rolfo from second place. Baldolini on the other hand, loses the front of his little Gex and must give up … In front, Sam Lowes instantly puts pressure on Kenan.
Too generous in several corner entries, Sam loses ground in the exits and lets Kenan slip away on the 4th lap! The 2013 world champion – yes already! – starts again in the next loop and grabs no less than three tenths to the Turk in the 5th lap.
Unable to follow n ° 11, Rolfo isolated himself in third place, a small second ahead of rookie Van den Mark. Two laps later, his teammate Iddon returns to the pits: the MV Agusta Parkingo team inspects the rear of the machine…
On the track, Sofuoglu and Lowes continue their last duel at the top. Rolfo sees Van den Mark come up on him on the Honda Pata. The other CBR600RR prepared by Ten Kate’s men, Zanetti’s, is in fifth position just ahead of Russo and Morais. Having started a long way, Foret is in eighth place.
Sam Lowes takes the lead in the 9th lap! The Englishman is keen to beat the Turk one last time this season before heading to Moto2: he and Kenan each have five wins this season and the 2013 champion wants to win a sixth time.
As Lowes tries to pull away from Sofuoglu, an intense battle between Foret and Coghlan for eighth place. Tenth place is just as hotly contested: Leonov has to do it twice to overtake Webb on lap 14 !
Five laps from the end, Sofuoglu took a few tenths back from Lowes then gave the Englishman a bit of braking pressure a little harder than usual. The Yamaha n ° 11 takes the wheel of the Kawa ‘n ° 54: Sam plunges his – beau – Shark into his bubble and sets out again to attack…
Behind, Rolfo and Van den Mark are fighting for the third step of the podium, Foret and Leonov are fighting for ninth place. In front, the final sprint is really launched: Sofuoglu widens in the curve "Sito Pons" and lets Sam pass. The Turk tries an attack with – big – braking following but cannot keep the advantage at the end of the hairpin..
Lowes suddenly accelerates on the 18th lap and leads Sofuoglu by more than a second at the end of this penultimate loop! The rider clearly pushes his Yamaha and Pirelli to the limit but remains on his two wheels until the end, winning the last race of "his" 2013 season with two seconds ahead of his runner-up. !
Like Lowes, Roberto Rolfo had a very good last lap and dominated Michael Van den Mark. The Italian driver thus gives MV Agusta a third podium this year. Fabien Foret finished in tenth place, Matthieu Lagrive in a distant 18th.
Second Superbike race
Suffering too much from his ankle after the first Superbike round, Marco Melandri was forced to forfeit as the BMW Golbet team counted on him to end their last season with a victory. Fourth place on the grid is therefore empty, Sylvain Guintoli still occupying fifth place….
Departure : Eugene Laverty takes the lead ahead of Tom Sykes, Davide Giugliano, Sylvain Guintoli, Toni Elias, Chaz Davies, Leon Camier, Broc Parkes, Mark Aitchison and Lorenzo Lanzi. Fores crashed after a touchdown in the first corner with Aitchison. Iannuzzo in turn ends up flat on his stomach a few turns later.
In front, Sykes took control of the race at the end of the straight line and immediately tried to widen the gap. Guintoli attacks Giugliano in the last corner of the 1st loop but cannot keep the third position…
In the peloton, Davies passed Elias and aimed for Aprilia # 34. A little further, it is the n ° 20 of BMW Goldbet, Sylvain Barrier, who wins a place at the expense of Aitchison and takes 11th position just behind Jules Cluzel and Lorenzo Lanzi.
At the forefront, Laverty manages to keep up with the pace set by the 2013 world champion. Sylvain Guintoli has got rid of Davide Giugliano who is now struggling to keep fourth place against the fourth Aprilia on the track: that of Toni Elias, who has ironed in front of the S1000RR of Chaz Davies !
Tom still leads on lap 5. Sylvain is less than two seconds behind his two opponents and has more than three seconds ahead of Toni Elias, Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies. Leon Camier rolls alone in 7th position, three seconds ahead of Lorenzo Lanzi, Jules Cluzel and Sylvain Barrier.
As in the first round, Leon Haslam joined the pits well before the end of the race and told his team about the concerns he encountered with his CBR1000RR … His teammate Michel Fabrizio was in the fourteenth and last position, more than 20 sykes seconds.
The n ° 66 masters his Ninja perfectly … but must be wary of the RSV4 n ° 58 which remains hidden in its shadow on the 9th lap! Our favorite n ° 50 still circulates two seconds behind the leaders, visibly unable to grab a tenth from them..
About thirteen seconds behind the leaders, Camier took his sixth position from Giugliano: not bad for the English driver who had not raced since the Nurburgring! His teammate Cluzel has to fight hard against the newcomer in the category: the double Superstock 1000 champion Sylvain Barrier, ninth at the halfway point !
Ahead, the terrible duel – psychological for the moment – between Sykes and Laverty continues. In the 13th lap, Guintoli was 3.5 seconds behind the leading duo but had a comfortable seven second lead over Elias.
Laverty attacks Sykes on the last corner of the 14th lap! Once passed, Eugene drives the point home and quickly digs a half-second gap on the new WSBK champion … The Irishman applies himself and nibbles five tenths more in the 16th round.
More and more at ease on his Suzuki, Jules Cluzel takes 8th place occupied by Davide "while sliding" Giugliano and lets the Italian explain himself with Sylvain Barrier and Mark Aitchison! Lorenzo Lanzi on his old Ducati 1198 rolls three seconds in front of Suzuki n ° 16 and sets the same times as Jules.
Meanwhile, "Youdjine" further accentuated its lead over "Major Tom": on the 18th lap the n ° 58 Aprilia found itself alone in the lead, three seconds ahead of the n ° 66 Kawasaki. "Guinters" finished his race alone, more than six seconds behind his teammate, the n ° 1 Aprilia this year !
A little too enthusiastic, Barrier lost the lead in "Dry Sack" with two laps to go when he was in a good ninth place. Hopefully this harmless fall – Parkes and his R1, however, shaved him clean! – will not harm "Sylv’1" and its future in WSBK !
The end of the race is particularly calm – for a World Superbike race! -: Eugene Laverty completed the last two laps at his – very good – pace and crossed the finish line on the rear wheel, signing his second double of the year.
The second podium this Sunday in Jerez is completed by the new World Superbike champion – Tom Sykes, who else? – and Sylvain Guintoli, third in this final 2013 race and finally third in the world championship as well.
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