2013 World Superbike Results
Spoiler Alert: 2013 World Superbike results from Imola, Italy, listed below
For the first time in the 2013 World Superbike Championship, a rider other than Aprilia Racing Team’s Sylvain Guintoli leads the points battle. This occurred following a double by the king of Superpoles, Kawasaki Racing’s Tom Sykes, at Imola World SBK Saturday.
Due to taking the wins in both rounds, and Guintoli suffering a DNF in race one, Sykes no leads with 235 points, six ahead of the Frenchman Guintoli.
The Brit Sykes also took both wins after starting from pole. During Superpole, Sykes set a new fastest lap at Imola aboard his Kawasaki ZX-10R, and also set a new lap record there with a 1:47.274 (race one).
Sykes now has five wins in 2013 World Superbike, including doubles at Imola and his home round in Donington Park. Sykes also revved up his career WSBK wins to 10.
Joining Sykes on the race-one podium was Althea Racing Aprilia’s Davide Giugliano and Aprilia Racing’s Eugene Laverty, respectively. In race two it was Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea and Guintoli.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Ninja ZX-10R Superbike) says: “I have had two perfect weekends out of the last three events and for this I am truly happy. I enjoy this circuit so we have made the most of it. A perfect weekend so it could not have been any better.
“It is a special weekend for many reasons and also the incident last year with my 2012 team-mate Joan Lascorz. There was not one time on any lap when I have exited turn six and not thought about his accident. We are all thinking of Joan and I hope that this is a small, small tribute to him. Both the ZX-10R and myself have been working well.
“I have every single individual member of the Kawasaki staff and teams to thank, and our great technical sponsors. Without their help I would not be able to showcase myself so I truly am grateful. Hopefully now this is a beginning of a challenge but we will see how we go.”
Race 1 Recap:
Sykes had a controlled approach in the early laps of race one, making his way up from fourth to the lead. Sykes then started making the difference as the race progressed.
Sykes was able to open up a gap on the second-place rider, Giugliano by mid race. For the first half of the race, the Aprilia rider was the only rider who could match Sykes’ speed.
Giugliano did all he could to stay with the winner, eventually finishing a lonely second. This was Giuglian’s first podium since race 1 at Misano in 2012.
Laverty achieved a solid third place ahead Marco Melandri (BWM Motorrad GoldBet). The home rider Melandri lapped really close to his former teammate, but couldn’t get in contention for the podium.
The two riders saw a recovering Rea getting in the mix until the Ulsterman crashed out of turn 19 of lap 19, not long after he moved up to fourth place. Rea got the hole-shot at the start, before running wide at turn 6 and rejoining in 11th position.
Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Aprilia) finished fifth after an intense battle with Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) and Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki). The Championship standings situation is now tighter than ever on top, following Sykes’ win and the unlucky withdrawal of Guintoli, due to a technical problem on lap six. This was Guintoli’s first time not finishing on the podium in 2013 World SBK.
Race 2 Recap:
Sykes, the Hudderfield-born rider, led every single lap of race 2 to cross the line as the winner for the 10th time in his WSBK career and, thanks to his fifht first place finish of the year, to equal the number of individual wins he was able to achieve in the last two seasons combined.
After the disappointment of the first race, Rea redeemed himself to end up a lonely second ahead of Guintoli, who redeemed himself from the DNF in race one.
Melandri finished fourth after he edged his teammate Chaz Davies for the position on the very last lap, while Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) won the battle for sixth ahead of Camier. Fabrizio managed to pulled away in the end for from a still recuperating Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) and fellow Italian Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) for eigth.
Today’s second race saw two potential protagonists out of contention in the early stages, as Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia) crashed at Turn 7 during the second lap, while trying to keep Sykes’ pace, and Laverty fell off his bike at Turn 18, on lap number six.
As for the 2011 World Superbike Champion Carlos Checa, he struggled, finishing 12th, one position back from his 11th place finish in race one.
The 2013 World Superbike Championship now breaks for three weeks before round eight at Moscow Raceway in Russia.
2013 Imola World Superbike Race 1 Results:
1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 37’52.860
2. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 38’00.058
3. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 38’02.344
4. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 38’03.183
5. Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 38’11.557
6. Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 38’12.391
7. Leon Camier (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 38’15.272
8. Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 38’22.002
9. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 38’29.688
10. Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 38’30.367
11. Carlos Checa (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 38’32.099
12. Max Neukirchner (MR-Racing) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 38’36.194
13. Federico Sandi (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 39’04.929
14. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Grillini Dentalmatic SBK) BMW S1000 RR 39’23.545
15. Noriyuki Haga (Grillini Dentalmatic SBK) BMW S1000 RR 39’23.633
RT. Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 32’36.166
RT. Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 23’53.271
RT. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 9’03.659
2013 Imola World Superbike Race 2 Results:
1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 37’51.947
2. Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 37’56.979
3. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 38’02.148
4. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 38’05.067
5. Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 38’05.577
6. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 38’15.896
7. Leon Camier (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 38’17.367
8. Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 38’28.458
9. Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 38’32.131
10. Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 38’33.047
11. Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 38’39.835
12. Carlos Checa (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 38’44.129
13. Max Neukirchner (MR-Racing) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 38’48.299
14. Federico Sandi (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 39’07.939
15. Noriyuki Haga (Grillini Dentalmatic SBK) BMW S1000 RR 39’17.157
RT. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 7’16.358
RT. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 3’36.790
RT. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Grillini Dentalmatic SBK) BMW S1000 RR 3’47.718
2013 World Superbike Championship Point Standings (after seven of 15 rounds):
1. Tom Sykes, Kawasaki: 235
2. Sylvain Guintoli, Aprilia: 229
3. Eugene Laverty, Aprilia: 190
4. Marco Melandri, BMW: 182
5. Chaz Davies, BMW: 154
6. Loris Baz, Kawasaki: 136
7. Jonathan Rea, Honda: 125
8. Michel Fabrizio, Aprilia: 120
9. Davide Giugliano, Aprilia: 99
10. Leon Camier, Suzuki: 80
11. Jules Cluzel, Suzuki: 77
12. Max Neukirchner, Ducati: 60
13. Carlos Checa, Ducati: 59
14. Ayrton Badovini, Ducati: 59
15. Leon Haslam, Honda: 42
16. Federico Sandi, Kawasaki: 28
17. Ivan Clementi, BMW: 18
18. Vittorio Iannuzzo, BMW: 15
19. Niccolò Canepa, Ducati: 11
20. Alexander Lundh, Kawasaki: 10
21. Fabrizio Lai, Kawasaki: 8
22. Glen Allerton, BMW: 6
23. Jamie Stauffer, Honda: 4
24. Kosuke Akiyoshi, Honda: 2
25. Noriyuki Haga, BMW: 2
26. Mark Aitchison, Ducati: 2
