2012 World Superbike Video
At the fifth round of the 2012 World Superbike Championship at Donington Park in the UK, Kawasaki Racing’s Tom Sykes took his fourth pole-position of the season.
And Sykes continued his quick performance throughout the double-header, taking his ZX-10R to the podium in both races with a pair of thirds.
In race one, a small error allowed the Brit to be beat to the line by race-winner Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad) and Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad). Kawasaki says Sykes was in combative and consistent form in race one but in race two he had no choice but to let his pursuers finally get past when he made a small error. Sykes also finished third in race two, behind race-winner Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike) and Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing).
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10R Superbike) says: “Race one was a fantastic race, I really enjoyed it and it certainly felt like a long one as it seemed to go on for many laps. Overall I think we had a very good show, lots of passing and a little bit too much at some corners, especially at the Foggy Esses, which seemed to claim a few victims.
“Unfortunately we seemed to struggle at one particular part of the track and that definitely affected our race performance. Yet again we got the holeshot and led for a number of laps in race two, but I was missing a bit of feeling with the wind, which was unfortunate. I managed to stay out front but made one mistake and all the other guys came past at a rate of knots. We didn’t quite have the best setting this weekend but a pole position and two podiums are great for myself and the Kawasaki team. I had the best seat in the house for the last couple of laps of race two, but for me five minus two equals a podium so I’m very happy!”
Sykes teammate, Loris Baz, made up places in both his starts from 18th on the grid, going 16th and just out of the points in race one, then taking a great eighth in a second race with only 15 finishers.
Attached above are video highlights of the Kawasaki Racing Team’s performance at Donington World Superbike.
