After the sad and tragic weekend in Moscow, the World Superbike Championship will be back this weekend on the Silverstone stage for ninth round of the 2013 season.
Both Kawasaki Racing Team riders have several reasons to look forward with optimism to the second GP of the year on British soil: at the Donington round in May, Tom Sykes had his home crowd going ballistic with the first ‘double win’ of his career, while team mate Loris Baz is about to race again on the track where he clinched his first and so for only win in the WSBK championship, which he later topped off with the second place in Race 2.
With no points scored in the only race of the Russian GP (where he saw his beloved Ninja catching fire), Tom Sykes definitely needs a great result in Silverstone, possibly something better than the eighth and twelfth places he went home with last year.
Now 4 points behind reinstated leader Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing) in the standings, Mr.
Superpole is definitely eager to get back on track after the ill-fated Moscow round:““At the previous round we had an issue in the race but we had been fastest in most of the practice sessions and had great race pace.
So in that respect I am happy.
When you are pushing at the front of races sometimes mistakes or issues come along.
Last year at Silverstone in normal conditions the Ninja ZX-10R was good but in the wet conditions of raceday we struggled a bit.
I think many people understand that we have made a big step with the set-up since then.
I am looking forward to racing again in front of my home crowd and hopefully we can have a similar kind of result as we did at Donington, but we will see.
I am going to Silverstone relaxed and motivated and we can look to hopefully get ourselves back on track.
There is a long summer break afterwards with three weeks off; then in September the calendar gets really busy again.
So a good result at Silverstone would be ideal to enjoy the summer break all the more.
”Partly helped by the particularly unstable weather conditions, Loris Baz last year won Race-1 after a memorable last lap, when he pipped BMW Goldbet’s Italian duo Michel Fabrizio and Aytron Badovini, with the latter who crossed the finish line tumbling after making contact with Jonathan Rea’s Fireblade.
Last year the young Frenchman arrived in Silvestone with just five rounds of experience in WSBK – he began filling in for Joan Lascorz at the Donington round – while now he is sixth in the championship but with only one podium finish to its name, the third place in Race 2 at Assen.
No wonder he’s hungry for a strong result on one of his lucky tracks: “I had a short holiday in Spain after Moscow and now I am ready for the Silverstone weekend.
After everything that happened in Moscow it will be good to be back racing.
I really like Silverstone and after I won a race there last year I had a really good weekend.
We are at a moment in the season when I need a strong weekend.
I think we can make a good weekend and we need it again.
I am not sure why I like Silverstone but I always enjoyed it when I rode it in Superstock and in BSB.
It is a really nice track and to go England is always cool because I know the British spectators and I have some good fans there so I am always happy to go to race in the UK.
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