After winning Race 1 at the French circuit of Magny Cours Tom Sykes also dominated Race 2 to take a 37 point advantage over Eugene Laverty and 38 points over Sylvain Guintoli, and put both his hands firmly on the World Superbike crown as the championship heads into its final round of the 2013 season at Jerez de la Frontera in eleven days.
In a dominating and faultless performance, the Kawasaki rider took another lights-to-flag victory uncontested by title rivals Sylvain Guintoli and Eugene Laverty who were battling for second during the final three laps but a sudden rain shower and a tricky surface saw them both crash out at the Adelaide, first Guintoli and then just meters away Laverty, which caused the red flag to be deployed.
Sykes could have sealed the title today, but both Aprilia riders managed to remount and return to the pitlane before the five minute rule was enforced, and with the one lap countback, Laverty and Guintoli were on the podium with a second and third place finish, respectively.
Davide Giugliano scored his second fourth place of the day as he kept Chaz Davies at bay for the spot.
Endurance champion Vincent Philippe, who probably knows the Magny Cours circuit better than his own pockets rode to sixth for Fixi Crescent Suzuki squad.
Changing engines between the two races did nothing for Marco Melandri who is now out of the run for the championship title, as he finished in 7th ahead of Toni Elias who made amends for his DNF in race 1 with an 8th spot finish.
Lorenzo Lanzi return to WSBK racing saw him complete race 2 in 9th and out classify the Alstare Ducati Panigale riders with an ‘old’ Ducati, but still homologated 1098R, as Ayrton Badovini was 10th and substitute rider Michele Pirro suffered his third crash of the weekend.
Kawasaki’s David Salom was 11th, ahead Mark Aitchison and Federico Sandi, while Jules Cluzel dropped to a lowly 14th following a crash.
Fabrizio Lai finished in 15th on the third Panigale on the grid.
2013 WSBK Magny Cours Race 2 results:1.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 34’36.
1492.
Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 34’47.
2403.
Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 34’47.
4864.
Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 34’59.
1575.
Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 35’01.
8736.
Vincent Philippe (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 35’10.
9117.
Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 35’12.
3688.
Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 35’17.
1069.
Lorenzo Lanzi (Mesaroli Transports A.
S.
) Ducati 1098R 35’19.
86210.
Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale 35’29.
33711.
David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 35’32.
40012.
Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 35’40.
19713.
Federico Sandi (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 35’40.
39214.
Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 35’46.
49515.
Fabrizio Lai (MR-Racing) Ducati 1199 Panigale 36’05.
590RT.
Michel Fabrizio (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 21’48.
713RT.
Vittorio Iannuzzo (Grillini Dentalmatic SBK) BMW S1000 RR 20’40.
188RT.
Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 11’45.
088RT.
Michele Pirro (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale 3’24.
776Race 1:The penultimate round of the 2013 World Superbike championship saw standings leader Tom Sykes win the first race of the double header and further extend his lead to 29 points after a lights-to-flag victory at the French circuit of Magny Cours.
The Kawasaki rider who was sitting on pole position grabbed the the holeshot and with the rest of the field giving chase, but none were able to catch him despite Sylvain Guintoli giving it all his best while breaking the circuit lap record, but the British rider simply cleared out after five laps and would maintain an almost 2 second lead over the Aprilia rider, until the proceedings were stopped with just three laps remaining after a massive highside by Pedercini’s Mark Aitchison, that left his Kawasaki ZX-10R burning on the asphalt.
Eugene Laverty scored a lonely third place which dropped him to third in the standings after a bad start and an intense battle with Marco Melandri over the opening laps and another with Davide Giugliano made him lose touch with the two front runners.
Giugliano eventually finished fourth ahead of Marco Melandri whose title hopes are almost gone unless he finishes ahead of Skyes in race 2.
There was a thrilling battle for sixth with Carlos Checa’s substitute and MotoGP test rider Michele Pirro, (who suffered two crashes on Saturday) taking the position in his WSBK debut, while Michele Fabrizio who is replacing Jonathan Rea finished ahead of his Pata team mate Leon Haslam Alstare Ducati’s Ayrton Badovini took the second Panigale into ninth, while WSBK veteran Lorenzo Lanzi on a Ducati 1198R (Mesaroli Racing) grabbed the 10th spot, after crashes by Chaz Davies and Jules Cluzel – in separate incidents – early in the race, and he was graced with the spot when Toni Elias and Leon Camier’s replacement Vincent Philippe also crashed out on lap 15.
Elias slid his Aprilia out of the exit of Chateaux d’Eau which in turn brought down a closely following Philippe who couldn’t avoid him – but he managed to remount and finish in 13th.
Davide Salom rode to 11th after two crashes in warm-up practice followed by Max Neukirchner’s replacement, Fabrizio Lai, and Vittorio Iannuzzo.
2013 WSBK Magny Cours Race 1 results:1.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 29’38.
8302.
Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 29’40.
9763.
Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 29’49.
4734.
Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 29’54.
5175.
Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 30’02.
4036.
Michele Pirro (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale 30’12.
6787.
Michel Fabrizio (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 30’16.
4298.
Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 30’16.
7339.
Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale 30’17.
01110.
Lorenzo Lanzi (Mesaroli Transports A.
S.
) Ducati 1098R 30’30.
43411.
David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 30’33.
57212.
Federico Sandi (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 30’42.
27213.
Vincent Philippe (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 30’46.
00614.
Fabrizio Lai (MR-Racing) Ducati 1199 Panigale 31’03.
68015.
Vittorio Iannuzzo (Grillini Dentalmatic SBK) BMW S1000 RR 31’05.
908RT.
Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 30’38.
548RT.
Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 25’48.
876RT.
Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 3’22.
383RT.
Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 4’07.
271
