Superbike: Incredible double for Kawasaki and Sykes

It was a great Sunday for Kawasaki, who achieved an incredible one-two in both races, literally dominating Race 1 with Tom Sykes.
Kawasaki is now leader of the Manufacturers' Championship with a ten point advantage and the reigning World Champion also takes back the lead of the world championship standings.
 
In Race 1, in cooler temperature conditions, Sykes started very well, maintaining the lead of the standings until the finish line, which he crossed with a lead of 4,275 seconds over teammate Loris Baz, who came second after battling with Rea and Giugliano in the early stages of the race.
Sykes also set a new lap record of 1'57 0,664, improving on his time from last year.
 
In Race 2, in warmer conditions given the start at 13pm, Sykes opted for a slightly counter-current tire choice, deciding to mount the hard tire on the front, unlike the other top ten riders who chose the soft solution.
The World Champion was unable to escape from his pursuers as in Race 1 and had to drive very carefully, especially when braking, where he had no stability on the front: the finale was therefore a sprint with Baz and Melandri competing for second square.
The gap from his teammate at the finish line was only three tenths, but that was enough to give Sykes his sixteenth Superbike victory.

To underline the majestic performance of Loris Baz, who already seems to have matured a lot compared to last year: the Frenchman maintains second place in the rankings and if the first opponent to confirm the title continues like this, Tom Sykes will find him at home!

For the EVO, a good performance from David Salom, who also recovered from an injury to his right hand, who managed to take his Kawasaki to second and first place in Race 1 and Race 2 respectively, also finishing in the top ten.
 
The next track meeting will be in Assen, Holland, on the weekend of 25-27 April for the third round of the 2014 Superbike World Championship.
 
Below are the statements of the three pilots:

“It was very important to achieve this type of performance after the first weekend at Phillip Island” - said an understandably satisfied man Tom Sykes, leader of the standings - “We achieved two victories today, but after the first four or five laps of Race 2 we felt far from perfect! Race 1 was very good and we had a good set-up which gave us a consistent pace on a cold track.
I thought Race 2 would be easier in hot conditions so I made the same tire choice as in Race 1. However, there was a temperature change in Race 2 on the starting grid and I had to do my best in those conditions with those tyres.
The two guys (Baz and Melandri, ed.) behind me certainly had more grip than me but we were certainly able to close all the spaces with the Ninja ZX-10R.
On the last lap I had a plan to keep them behind me, and it worked.
Marco tried at the last but wasn't able to close the corner well.
It was a great race for the spectators too!”.
 
“There was a change in temperature for Race 2, so we changed the rear tire to adapt” - he declared Loris Baz, very happy with his performance today- “We knew the race would be difficult for us due to the lower temperature, but we hoped the track would warm up a bit to make sure we used the soft tyre.
I pushed to use the soft one and I think it was a good decision, because Tom seems to have struggled a little more in Race 2 on a different tyre.
I managed to stay in his wake after just a few laps and I think we had a good race and each of us is satisfied.
I tried to pass Tom, but I lost the front a bit.
I also knew that Melandri was approaching, so I wanted to overtake Tom as soon as possible, but I didn't choose the right moment.
When Marco passed me I was in a tussle with him and I was no longer able to catch Tom.
This weekend we fought for the win and got on the podium twice, and this is positive when you think about the rest of the season. For now I'm still second in the championship and we need to focus on Assen."

“It was difficult in these two races and we had some problems” – he said David Solomon at the end of the two races - “In the first race it was difficult because I didn't have the pace I wanted. In the second race it was easier because I had a better set-up, but I couldn't get rid of Leon Camier.
in the end he went wide on the last lap, but Niccolò Canepa was also very close to me, but I managed to get into the top ten in the end.
I'm happy for the team, it was a great day for Kawasaki."