Superbike: Laverty and Guintoli comment on the two Magny Cours races

Sylvain Guintoli and Eugene Laverty had to surrender today at Magny Cours to the dominance of Tom Sykes, who with a one-two put a serious threat to the 2013 Superbike title. The two Aprilia riders were unable to keep up with the home Briton Kawasaki and at the end of race 2 they were "saved" by the red flag which stopped the race at the end when the rain had become intense. In fact, they had both crashed while fighting for second position.

"Tom (Sykes, ed.) was from another planet today, I tried to follow him in the first laps but coming out of the slow corners he was gaining too much ground – he said Eugene Laverty – Towards the end Sylvain and I battled, usually I don't like these situations very much because I respect him and because we are both still in the running for the title, but every point is important at this stage of the season. I'm happy with the two results, obviously, even if our goal was to reduce the gap to the top. Between Race1 and Race2 we improved the bike, I was certainly faster but apparently it wasn't enough. Jerez remains to attempt the final assault on the Drivers' World Championship."

“Race 2 was exciting, a good battle with Eugene. Too bad we couldn't stay with Tom, he was really too fast – added Sylvain Guintoli – I hope I didn't do too much damage to my shoulder with the fall, unfortunately my visor was full of midges and I didn't see the slippery patches. In Race1 I managed not to lose too much ground, in the final laps I would have tried to catch Tom but the red flag stopped us. It will be hard to recover in Jerez, this is true, but we still have the mathematical possibility of winning so I will try until the end to conclude this Championship with dignity.”