2014 Losail World Superbike Results & Recap

2014 Losail World Superbike Results & Recap
Honda's Jonathan Rea leads

2014 Losail World Superbike Results

Spoiler Alert: 2014 World Superbike results from the season finale at Losail International Circuit in Doha, Qatar, listed below.

As the World Superbike Championship traveled this past weekend to Losail International Circuit in Doha, Qatar, for the season finale, the 12 points separated the only two riders capable of earning the title – Tom Sykes and Sylvain Guintoli.

The Kawasaki Racing Team pilot Sykes only had one race of experience at Losail from his rookie year in World SBK in 2009 – the last season Losail was featured on the WSBK calendar.

As for Guintoli, the Aprilia Racing Team rider had an advantage; The Frenchman raced at Qatar five times, including once under the floodlights in MotoGP (2008) when he finished 15th.

This experience seemed to pay off Sunday when Guintoli earned his only double win of the season. But Guintoli also earned the 2014 World Superbike Championship at the first World SBK race to ever be held under the floodlights at Losail. This was Guintoli’s first WSBK title, and the third for Aprilia RSV4 machinery.

“The feelings right now are truly incredible. Today was a great day, two fantastic races where I felt stronger than I have ever felt in my life. I was able to be fast without any trouble and lap times were just coming easily to me,” Guintoli says.

“Coming to Aprilia last year was a great opportunity for me and before my shoulder injury I was in the battle for the championship so it was a shame to lose so much ground because of my physical conditions.

“This year my fitness was perfect so I was able to be consistent and demonstrate our potential. I really began to believe after Magny-Cours, in fact I was certain: we were fast, I felt good and my team gave me great support. Today I showed that I am the fastest on the track. Winning the Title by 6 points is symbolic but it is extremely important for me after all the recent controversy.

“I want to thank a lot of people, starting with my family who gave me stability and had faith in me, as well as supporting me in these months of high pressure. I am grateful to Aprilia. They provided me with the best bike I have ever ridden and a team that has become like a second family to me.”

As for Sykes, he missed a second-consecutive title by a mere six points following his 3-3 finish.

Finishing second in race one was Sykes’ teammate Loris Baz. In race two, Pata Honda World Superbike’s Jonathan Rea finished second.

Following are the official race recaps from World Superbike.

2014 Losail World Superbike Race 1 Recap:

The penultimate race of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship, the first ever to be held under floodlights has been won by Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) who pulled away in the final four laps to cross the line a lonely winner ahead of compatriot Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team), in what was one of the most enthralling races of the season.

Thanks to his fourth win of the year, Guintoli is now only three points short of series leader and reigning champion Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), who completed the podium.

From the start it was Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) that led before Baz took his turn at the front. The first half of the race saw eight riders covered by a little over a second, before things settled down a little as Guintoli and Baz began to ease away.

Lap 13 saw Melandri pass Sykes much to the delight of the Aprilia pit garage, while at the front Guintoli and Baz remained locked together. The Aprilia RSV4 #50 overtook the Kawasaki ZX-10R #76 at the start of the fourteenth lap where it would remain.

Tom Sykes regrouped to claim the final podium spot as Jonathan Rea clung on valiantly to 4th ahead of Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) and Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia), who were 5th and 6th respectively.

Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati) and David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) crossed the line separated by 0.011s in their own private EVO fight, the pair finishing 12th and 13th overall. Salom doing enough to take the EVO class series victory.

2014 Losail World Superbike Race 2 Recap:

Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) is the 2014 eni FIM Superbike World Champion after a nailbiting season final race held under floodlights at the Losail International Circuit, Qatar.

The race began with Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) and Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) colliding at turn one, with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) heading the pack.

Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) took over the reigns as race leader before he was overhauled by race one winner Guintoli, the Frenchman setting a new lap record as he took the first double victory of his career to seal the World title by six points!

Sykes and Rea battled race long to determine the final spots on the podium with the Honda rider just edging the outgoing champion for second in final 3 laps.

Five riders fought hard for fourth with Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team) coming home ahead of Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team) and Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia).

Newly crowned Superbike EVO winner David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) was once again involved in a titanic fight for the best classified EVO rider coming home ahead of Niccolo Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati) in 11th, Canepa was 12th. Bryan Staring (Iron Brain Grillini Kawasaki) rode well to claim the third EVO placing in a credible 13th overall.

Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki), Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki), Aaron Yates (Team Hero EBR) and Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia)

In the final standings Jonathan Rea finished 3rd, 1 point ahead of Melandri.

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