Race 1: V V V 1. Guintoli 2. Melandri 3. Sykes 4. Berger 5. Haslam 6. Badovini 7. Laverty 8. Giugliano 9. Corti 10. Baz DNFs. Include Biaggi, Checa, Davies, and Camier.
Magny-Cours - FIM Superbike World Championship - Race 2 1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 38'15.725 2. Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 38'17.079 3. Sylvain Guintoli (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 38'18.118 4. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 38'28.847 5. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 38'29.680 6. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 38'33.954 7. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 38'34.155 8. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 38'42.373 9. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 38'49.534 10. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 38'52.942 11. Maxime Berger (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 38'54.596 12. Claudio Corti (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 39'11.439 13. Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 39'13.346 14. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 39'21.212 15. Norino Brignola (Grillini Progea Superbike Team) BMW S1000 RR 38'30.959 RT. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 25'10.160 RT. Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 13'29.654 RT. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 8'23.176 RT. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 8'27.831
Last race of the season: V V V 1. Sykes 2. Rea 3. Guintoli 4. Laverty 5. Biaggi 6. Giugliano 7. Checa 8. Davies 9. Badovini 10. Camier Final standings: 1. Biaggi 2. Sykes 3. Melandri 4. Checa 5. Rea
Well done Max, to win the championship by half a point is quite an accomplishment! Interesting that Laverty never did give up his position, but he was prepared to. I felt gutted for Sykes, the guy did all he could but the numbers just didn't roll his way. I believe he'll be a major force in 2013, and I hope he prevails. Melandri continued his crashing ways, he is his own worst enemy. It will be interesting to see how much $$ BMW throws at the team next year when they race under a "non-factory" banner. Great year for WSBK, lots of close finishes and multiple plots.
What a great season of racing. Congrats to Max for winning another World Championship. I have become a huge fan of Tom Sykes from his campaign this year. He pushed the big Kawi to the front like it hasn't seen in many years and his podium appearances and interviews are always so upbeat. I think if last winter the Kawasaki brass was told they'd get second in the championship by 1/2 a point they'd take it!
How can there be half points? Congrats to Max from me too. How old is he anyways? Big Tom Sykes fan since he rode the Yamaha behind Ben. He's really done a great job proving himself to everybody over and over. He could win it all next season. Impressed with Rea too. They must be coming to grips with thet CBR finally. I'm also a Melandri fan, but he sort of beat himself this season. Puzzling. So where did Guinters come from? Outa' nowhere it seems. Great season with many memorable moments by a lot of different riders. Hope the new Panigale isn't another turnip truck...
I believe 2 different races were stopped due to unsafe conditions before they reached what could be considered full race distance. Since they were unable to restart those races, they were awarded 1/2 points.
From races stopped before running to full lap count, but beyond I think it's 50% of full. They award half the usual points haul for positions in those races. 41, I believe. Overall? He showed a lot of promise in the British Superbike series a couple years ago. It's finally showing through. Same with Tom Sykes. He was always very quick in BSB.
Guintoli has done a bit of time in MotoGP, iirc, and he was in BSB before breaking a leg when he got torpedoed by another rider, maybe 2009.
Close racing, Laverty said on his twitter he had the speed for podium but the anchors were put on him. The 1/2 points were from Monza. I think Sykes has a bright future in SBK he is quick and a very down to earth guy, no airs or graces just a decent chap. If it wasn't for his engine blowing up in Portimao he'd probably be champion now. I guess his season has been one of consistency he didn't crash AFAIK?
Yeah, how about that? A guy that "everyone" was calling a loser for not being Ben Spies on the Yamaha, is now a superhero on a Kawasaki.
I noticed he ran a very slow last lap (like 6 seconds off), but he still didn't let Max by. He might have had a podium, but I believe if he wanted to help Max he needed to beat Sykes or let Max by. He didn't do either. Is Laverty back next season on that bike? Is Max back too? PS: You know Aprilia has something going on right now before our eyes. Maybe something historic in the same relm of the 851/888/916 years with Polen and Foggy. Just a thought.
Yes, I believe that Elav has re-signed and Max has retired if rumours are to be believed... Those Apes are a trick looking machine, not far off MotoGP trick I would think. Saying that Sykes's Kawasaki has never looked down on power, I'd say it must be running to the the ragged edge of HP production.
He was pretty straightforward in his interview, he said that they had basically overachieved compared with what their targets were at the start of the season. He reckoned 5th would have been a decent finish for them. So 2nd by .5 of a point is a pretty good result, but it must be awful hard to take considering how close it was in the end.
Max's body language in parc ferme, and his post race comments - "Now is my time, next year is his [Sykes] time", seems to indicate he may retire. It was a long slog for everyone in SBK, I think.
His speed wasn't that recent; he almost did the double for Liberty Racing this year. Before Liberty sacked everyone and then ran off