Double victory for Tom Sykes at Magny-Cours

The battle for the ultimate prize in World Superbike is still open after a resounding double victory to Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) at the penultimate round at France’s Magny Cours this weekend.

Sykes holds a 38 point lead over Eugene Laverty and 39 over Sylvain Guintoli. The factory Aprilia riders completed the podium on both occasions, even after a dramatic race two finale.

In other categories, titles were clinched with Britain’s Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) taking the 2013 World Supersport Championship and local rider Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) retaining the STK1000 title

Race one report: Tom Sykes wins first race in dominant fashion
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) has scored victory in the first World Superbike race of the day, leading the way from lights to the red flag that was waved during lap 19, following the crash suffered by Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini Kawasaki).

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Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli.

The Brit was able to pull away from the rest of the field, except for Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), in the early stages of the race, with the duo able to lap consistently in the 1’38s. Sykes’ pace, though, was too fast even for the Frenchman, as the Kawasaki rider managed to put a safe margin between himself and his rival as the race progressed.

Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) crossed the line a lonely third to complete the podium ahead of Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia), very competitive in the opening laps before losing ground from the top, Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) and Michele Pirro (Team Ducati Alstare), who rode an incredible maiden race in the series to finish sixth.

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#33 Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet), #34 Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) and #58 Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team).

In the first half of the race, Pirro was involved in a spectacular 5-way battle for sixth place, along with Pata Honda riders Michel Fabrizio and Leon Haslam, Toni Elias (Red Devils Aprilia) and Vincent Philippe (FIXI Crescent Suzuki). Elias, who made his WSBK debut last month in Turkey, lost control of his Aprilia RSV4 at Turn 13 during the sixteenth lap, taking out Philippe in the process.

The difficult first race for the FIXI Crescent Suzuki was completed by local rider Jules Cluzel’s crash in the early stages, preceded by a crash for works BMW rider Chaz Davies.

Results – Race 1
1. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 29m 38.830s
2. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Aprilia Racing RSV4 +2.146s
3. Eugene Laverty IRL Aprilia Racing RSV4 +10.643s
4. Davide Giugliano ITA Althea Racing RSV4 +15.687s
5. Marco Melandri ITA BMW GoldBet S1000RR HP4 +23.573s
6. Michele Pirro ITA Alstare Ducati 1199 R +33.846s
7. Michel Fabrizio ITA Pata Honda CBR1000RR +37.599s
8. Leon Haslam GBR Pata Honda CBR1000RR +37.903s
9. Ayrton Badovini ITA Alstare Ducati 1199 R +38.181s
10. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA Mesaroli Ducati 1098 R +51.604s
11. David Salom ESP Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +54.742s
12. Federico Sandi ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1m 03.442s
13. Vincent Philippe FRA Fixi Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1m 07.176s
14. Fabrizio Lai ITA MR Ducati 1199 R +1m 24.850s
15. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA Grillini Dentalmatic BMW S1000RR +1 laps
Not classified
16. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 16 laps completed
17. Toni Elias ESP Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 15 laps completed
18. Jules Cluzel FRA Fixi Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 2 laps completed
19. Chaz Davies GBR BMW GoldBet S1000RR HP4 2 laps completed

 Race two : Tom Sykes completes stellar weekend with double win

Tom Sykes made a clean sweep of the French round thanks to a dominant win in race two, that completes the third double-victory for the Kawasaki Racing Team rider this year. The championship leader got a perfect start out of pole and steadily pulled away, to place a considerable gap between himself and the chasing duo of Eugene Laverty and Sylvain Guintoli.

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L-R Eugene Laverty, Tom Sykes and Sylvain Guintoli.

As slight drizzle started to fall on the French circuit, the factory Aprilia riders was battling hard for second place, when both crashed on their own at turn five causing a red flag situation, that led to an early end of the race. Laverty and Guintoli successfully made it back to the pits and, as final results were based on the last lap completed by all riders – the 21st – they finished second and third respectively.

Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia) ended up 4th ahead of Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet), Vincent Philippe (FIXI Crescent Suzuki), substitute rider for Leon Camier, and the other works BMW rider Marco Melandri. Lorenzo Lanzi (Mesaroli Transports A.S. Ducati) scored an encouraging ninth in what has been his WSBK return behind Toni Elias (Red Devils Aprilia), with Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) to complete the top ten.

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Returning to WSBK, Lorenzo Lanzi (Mesaroli Transports A.S. Ducati).

Technical problems ruled Pata Honda riders Leon Haslam and Michel Fabrizio out of the race, while Jules Cluzel (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) was able to jump back on his GSX-R, after a crash on lap 13, to finish fourteenth.

With the season finale to be held at Jerez on October 18-20, Sykes further extended his lead in the standings to 37 points over Laverty and 38 on Guintoli.

Results – Race 2
1. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 34m 36.149s
2. Eugene Laverty IRL Aprilia Racing RSV4 +11.091s
3. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Aprilia Racing RSV4 +11.337s
4. Davide Giugliano ITA Althea Racing RSV4 +23.008s
5. Chaz Davies GBR BMW GoldBet S1000RR HP4 +25.724s
6. Vincent Philippe FRA Fixi Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 +34.762s
7. Marco Melandri ITA BMW GoldBet S1000RR HP4 +36.219s
8. Toni Elias ESP Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 +40.957s
9. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA Mesaroli Ducati 1098 R +43.713s
10. Ayrton Badovini ITA Alstare Ducati 1199 R +53.188s
11. David Salom ESP Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +56.251s
12. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1m 04.048s
13. Federico Sandi ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1m 04.243s
14. Jules Cluzel FRA Fixi Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1m 10.346s
15. Fabrizio Lai ITA MR Ducati 1199 R +1m 29.441s
Not Classified
16. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA Grillini Dentalmatic BMW S1000RR 13 laps completed
17. Michel Fabrizio ITA Pata Honda CBR1000RR 12 laps completed
18. Leon Haslam GBR Pata Honda CBR1000RR 7 laps completed
19. Michele Pirro ITA Alstare Ducati 1199 R 2 laps completed

Fastest lap
Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 37.932s

World Supersport – Sofuoglu wins as Lowes takes World Supersport title
Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) has clinched his first ever World Title today, after the second place finish achieved in the WSS Race behind winner Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki). The indomitable 23 year-old from Lincoln, Great Britain, rode a superb race with no tactics involved, even though he just needed to finish in the points to be awarded the new World Supersport Champion.

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L-R race winner Kenan Sofuoglu, second and World Supersport Champion Sam Lowes, third Christian Iddon.

The race was red-flagged during the final lap following the crash suffered by Christian Iddon (ParkinGO MV Agusta Corse), who high-sided while running in third place. The English rider was able to make it back to the pits within the time limit for his maiden podium in series, as final results were based on the previous lap.

Lowes, Sofuoglu and Iddon put up an incredible show for the win, while Fabien Foret (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki) took the most out a 5-way fight for fought that also involved Sheridan Morais (Team Go Eleven Kawasaki), Pata Honda riders Michael van der Mark and Lorenzo Zanetti, and Roberto Tamburini (Team Honda Lorini).

Zanetti, along with other two riders – Matthieu Lagrive (Intermoto Ponyexpres Kawasaki) and Lee Johnston (PTR Honda) – had a crash on the final lap, but he was only one of the three who successfully rode back, to claim seventh.

Superstock 1000 – Sylvain Barrier Champion for the second time in a row
Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki) has won on home soil in the FIM Superstock 1000 cup race for a repeat performance of his last year’s maiden victory in the series. Frenchman led the entire race, that was reduced to 9 laps following the horrific crash sustained by Christoffer Bergman (BWG Racing Kawasaki).

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Sylvain Barrier retains the STK1000 title.

Niccolò Canepa (Barni Racing Ducati) and Lorenzo Savadori (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) completed the podium. Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) didn’t take any risks finishing fourth, successfully retaining the STK1000 title.

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