Tom Sykes’ long career in Superbike ended this weekend in Mandalika. It is not yet clear where he will go next year, although for the 2013 Superbike World Champion there are options in MotoAmerica and BSB. Even though there are still places available in the customer teams in the world championship, Sykes only wants to race with factory material.
Sykes makes it clear that he doesn’t plan on ending his career like Chaz Davies did and says he is a bit annoyed by BMW’s decision: “I turned 36 this year and I feel like I’m 25. Racing they are my passion. In an ideal world, I would have continued in the world championship because I have been riding here for 13 years and I have the level to race in this paddock. But when one door closes, another opens. I only learned of the decision in August. This left an unpleasant aftertaste ”.
The most obvious thing for the Brit would be his return to BSB, but MotoAmerica also looks pretty tempting: “When I was racing in Laguna Seca, I told Marcel (Duinker, former team boss, ed) that I would like to ride here for a year. . This option interests me. I know the BSB, I raced there. I know it’s a very well organized and strong championship ”.
In the farewell race to Superbike, Sykes did not do badly. It was his first race after returning from the injury he had sustained in Barcelona and which had caused him to miss the rounds of Jerez, Portimao and San Juan. “I came back after an injury. I think many people did not understand the severity of my injury and the risk it entailed. But I went straight to the second row when I got back, ”says the BMW driver.
In Race 1, held on Sunday morning due to the rain on Saturday, Sykes crossed the line in tenth position, then obtaining a fifth position under the water of Race 2 on Sunday afternoon: “On this track you can drive well even in conditions wet because there is a lot of grip. This makes racing in the rain even better ”.
Team-mate Michael van der Mark even got on the podium and Sykes clarifies: “Does BMW work better in the rain? I would say that it is the riders who can compensate for some of the weaknesses of the bike and thus get closer to where we should be. Problems are not so good in the dry ”.
Sykes ended his last season in eleventh place in the world rankings: “It’s been a year that can be divided into two parts, a bittersweet experience. During the season we had to do development work and race at the same time. It is a difficult task because at this level we have to concentrate on the race set-up ”.
Tom Sykes, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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