WSBK – MNC Analysis of World Superbike in Great Britain – The King Sykes goes back to the Championship …

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MNC analysis of World Superbike in Great Britain

WSBK - MNC Analysis of World Superbike in Great Britain - The King Sykes goes back to the Championship ...

Beyond the points distributed, each race weekend brings its share of remarkable feats and poor performances, good and bad surprises. In its analysis, Site reviews the highlights of the WSBK at Donington Park.

The King Sykes goes back to the championship…

Chaz Davies at Motorland d’Aragon, Sylvain Guintoli at Magny-Cours, Troy Bayliss at Monza, Carl Fogarty then Jonathan Rea on the TT circuit in Assen, Carlos Checa at Miller Motorsport, Max Biaggi in Brno … Some World drivers Superbikes seem predisposed to success on certain circuits !

The reasons for their excellent results are very varied: a track that perfectly matches their driving style, strong support from their public, absolute knowledge of the track, particular affection for the country or a fierce desire to shine there….

Tom Sykes, on the other hand, cannot really explain his phenomenal success at Donington Park. However, he has had time to study the question: for four years now "Major Tom" has flown over – even humiliated – his opponents on the atypical English circuit. !

Donington Park has two distinct portions: the first, older, favors big hearts and requires a finely tuned cycle part to tackle large bends. The second, added in 1995 to obtain the "Grand Prix" homologation, is very demanding on the mechanics and requires serious bumps as well as a sacred physical endurance..

Is it because he is the only driver to find the subtle balance between these two radically different sections that the English Ninja has beaten his competitors eight times in a row, pocketing the double in,, and again ?!

Remember that this series of successes is historic: Tom equaled the eight straight victories of the "King Carl" Fogarty recorded at Assen between 1993 and 1996. Next year, the "King Sykes" will seek to break this record. But will he still ride for Kawasaki? Nothing is signed yet…

However, the Akashi Greens would be wrong to let go of their No. 66: between and, their illustrious driver fought until the last race for the world title. Sykes is only six and a half points from a triple coronation, unprecedented in WorldSBK…

Gold medalist in, silver in and and bronze in, Tom Sykes is undoubtedly one of the fastest motorcycle riders in the world. On qualifying tires, he even seems to have become untouchable: like like, "Super Sykes" stuck almost a second to his closest rival. !

Sykes is also one of the strongest in the race, as evidenced by his two clear runs this weekend when many of his opponents messed up, sometimes repeatedly. Admittedly, his victories were not as masterful as expected. But the important thing is that he remains undefeated on his land…

What is also important for Sykes is to leave his native England in second place in the provisional classification: thanks to 25 points from his Sunday, "Major Tom" starts with 6 points more than Davies….

The 2015 vice-world champion pays his double (!) Fall "cash" on Saturday. But how could he blame himself? As Site pointed out the day after his: if Chaz wants to win the title this year, he must win races !

Faced with a "ruthless JR" who still has not come down from the podium this season, "Chazie" must win at all costs. Falling for the first time at the start of the season to – but got back on his machine straight away to finish 10th in the -, the Welshman lost the front twice more this Sunday !

Set off again after a first slide in the final and slow Goddards chicane, Chaz was brilliantly coming back up the peloton when he again lost the front of his Panigale … This time, the fall occurred in a much faster curve: Coppice , the one that cost Troy Bayliss himself a phalanx !

Unlike the legendary Ducati rider n ° 21, the n ° 7 recovered unscathed from his mishap. He had to give up the race, however, ending a superb streak of 28 races that finished in points from England last year … Will Davies set off for a lap? ?

For this, and to erase from his memory his disappointment due to too much fervor in the race – but also to a great heat in the tests (read our) -, Chaz counts on the private tests of Ducati next week..

The next meeting set in three weeks is going rather well: the WorldSBK will go to Misano, on the grounds of Ducati, where their top rider intends to improve his results of 2015: for the record, Davies was mounted on the third step of the podium in the first round and missed it in the second.

The second Italian event of 2016 will have a very special flavor for the Bologna Reds, since it is on this same circuit, two weeks later, that the ninth World Ducati Week will be held! The brand will celebrate a double anniversary: ​​90 years of existence and 70 years of motorcycles…

Giugliano is perhaps even more impatient to compete in the eighth round of the WSBK 2016: the second official Ducati rider is still awaiting his first victory in the world championship! On Saturday, the n ° 34 climbed for the eighth time on the 2nd step of a Superbike podium…

Helped in the first run by Davies’ falls and Rea’s technical problems, the Roman was not spared by Sykes. His second place on Saturday is still satisfying and encouraging: for the first time since his accession to the "queen" category of WorldSBK in 2012, "D34G" has climbed the podium twice in a row..

Jonathan Rea, as we have seen, has been on the podiums since the start of the year, but his start to the season is less astounding than last year: in 2015, the northern Irishman had collected victories and second places. , accumulating 330 points at the end of the. This year, the world champion collected 293 points out of 350 available…

If Rea’s results remain very impressive, it is interesting to note that he has not won a race for three events. The "Number One" however ensures to be more and more comfortable on the new ZX-10R, which he tries to model to his style of piloting.

Kawasaki has indeed developed its taking into account the returns of Tom Sykes and his team in recent seasons. Jonathan joined the official team last year and had to adapt his mount. And paradoxically, its performance has become less good over time.

Winner of the first three races of the season on "Sykes’ bike" Rea has two more wins, "home" at. Sunday at Donington Park, he finally seemed able to return to success…

Author of the fastest lap in the race (7 hundredths of a second faster than Sykes!), Rea remained glued to his rear wheel throughout the race. But like a certain Rossi in the last one, the god Rea was betrayed by his motorcycle !

The drivers are not the type to dwell on this kind of setback and prefer to go ahead, but the fans love to redo the races … Those of "Johnny" will have three weeks to rewrite this second English round: "And if Rea hadn’t been the victim of false dead spots, would he have beaten the invincible Sykes?" Your keyboards !

In the end, Tom Sykes won both sets, taking 14 points from Jonathan Rea. But what the championship leader naturally remembers is that he has consolidated his lead: arriving at Donington Park with 44 points more than Davies, he leaves with 56 more than Sykes..

There are six races left, so twelve races to go and 300 points to distribute. Even Chaz Davies, who is now 62 points behind the No. 1, can therefore hope to dethrone Jonathan Rea. On the manufacturer side, Ducati also remains in the race against Kawasaki. Let’s also take advantage of the "half-time" to review this other classification on the next page…

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