British Superbike News

Tom Sykes - WSB Donington Park

This weekend some of the British Superbike riders took part in the eleventh round of the World Superbike series as Wild-Card riders at Donington Park.

Tom Sykes for the Rizla Suzuki slotted into second place in race one before passing Troy Bayliss to take the lead in lap seven.

The weather had been horrendous all weekend but the track had started to dry for the first race, as Sykes put a gap of 3.9 seconds between himself and World Champion Bayliss.

The race was soon red flagged as Noriyuki Haga’s Honda deposited oil on the track causing some of the top riders to fall.

As the race restarted with fourteen laps to run, Sykes was in pole position but was taken by Bayliss who slid past him going into the first corner.

Sykes was then slowed further as two riders crashed right in front of him as he went into the esses, but he kept the pressure on Bayliss until the race was red flagged again with two laps to go as the rain once again stopped the race.

The race was decided on aggregate times taken from both parts of the race, giving Bayliss the win by 1.266 seconds leaving Sykes in a respectible second place.

In race two the rain was torrential as the riders lined-up on the grid and Sykes team had run out of time to get the bike into a good set up for the conditions and the pace was just to much as the plucky rider finished back in tenth place.

Tom said after the races,

“The first part of race one all went to plan and it was fantastic.  I was watching the time on my board increasing with Troy behind and I felt I had good pace.  The red flag was frustrating but I hid it well and composed myself.  I got a clean start grabbing the hole-shot, but a slide and an incident at the esses allowed Troy to get past me and get away.

Race two was a tough one but what can you do in conditions like that, I just kept it steady as I was struggling for grip.  Overall it has been a good day, I’ve taken a podium at world level, we’ve gained some valuable wet settings and I’m looking to Croft.  I’d like to say a big thank you to all of the Rizla Suzuki team and the fans, this has been a brilliant experience.”

The two HM Plant Honda riders, Cal Crutchlow and Leon Haslam were both at Donington as Wild-Cards, a first for Crutchlow who has never before ridden in the World Superbike series.

Crutchlow was out of race one before the first red flag incidence with a faulty quickshift sensor but in race two he took the second step on the podium.

Haslam looked assured of a third place in race one until he was taken out of the race by Robbie Rolfo at Fogarty esses, but rejoined the race to finish in a respectable eighth place.  In race two, Haslam crashed out at the Old Hairpin with only three laps of the race remaining.

Crutchlow said,

“This result is going to Jonesy – my good mate Craig Jones.  Obviously I was disappointed in the first outing with the problem I had, but I so wanted to make amends in race two, which I did.  I was confident of catching Kio when we were clear of the pack, but as soon as I got close I was getting spray and debris on my visor so it was difficult to close on him to make a pass.  Discretion is the better part of valour and eventually I decided to stick in second and get a good result for HM Plant Honda and myself.  Thanks to the team for all the hard work they put in this weekend.”

Haslam said,

“I’m very disappointed with the results to be honest, but it’s tinged with the fact that I’ve shown once again today that I can run with a World-class field, as I’ve done in the past.  A podium was ours in the re-started race one until Robbie Rolfo took me down with a rash move up into the Foggy esses.  I came back as strong as I could, but that was as high up as I could finish.  In race two again I was holding a strong fourth when I went down at the Old Hairpin and that was that.  We’ve got to move on from this now and look to Croft where I’m chasing second in the Bennetts British Superbike title.”

James Ellison on the Hydrex Bike Animal Honda finished an impressive fourth in the second race at Donington riding the Shaun Muir Racing 1000cc Honda Fireblade.

All hopes of a good result in race one were dashed after a terrible start off the grid for Ellison resulting in a collision with the Yamaha of Noriyuki Haga, although he still finished in tenth place.

Ellison put in the best performance of his career in race two and ran with the leaders on a sodden track for the opening part before running off track and rejoining and clawing his way back up to fourth.

Ellison said,

“It’s a shame I lost those thirteen seconds in the gravel trap because I could have been up there on the podium, but I can’t be disappointed even though it was so close.  The team has spent a lot of money coming here but it’s been worthwhile and I think they’ve enjoyed it, so it’s a big thanks to Shaun and the sponsors as I’ve always wanted to race in World Superbikes.  This has boosted by confidence going into the next BSB round at Croft next week.”