Tom Sykes requires just thirteen points from the final two races to be crowned Superbike World Champion after totally dominating the second race at Magny Cours. Sykes left the two factory Aprilia riders behind with a late rain shower bringing an end to a thrilling battle between Eugene Laverty and Sylvain Guintoli over second on the last lap.
The outcome of the race as far as victory was concerned was never in doubt from the moment Sykes grabbed the holeshot, the Kawasaki rider pulling away at half a second per lap. With no chance of challenging the leader, Guintoli and Laverty engaged in their own private duel which would have the French crowd on their feet. The home favourite had the edge at half distance after a move at Chateaux d’eau but with seven laps remaining, the gloves would well and truly come off.
Laverty signalled his intentions by outbraking Guintoli into Adelaide and the Frenchman looked to have ruined his chances with a mistake at the Nurburgring which sent him straight across the run-off but after quick detour, Sylvain was back on the tail of his teammate. Two laps later, Guintoli regained second at Imola but Eugene outdragged him again as they powered down the back straight, just three laps remained.
With the atmosphere reaching fever pitch in the grandstands, Guintoli dived inside Laverty at Estoril but yet again, the no.58 was stronger on the run to Adelaide. The fans favourite surged straight up the inside into 180 but with rain falling, all bets were off on the last lap and after a fourth successful pass at the hairpin, Laverty lost the back end of his RSV4 on the slippery surface. The spectators had nothing to celebrate though with Guintoli skating off at the same corner and with both challengers on the floor, the unlikely scenario which would crown Sykes champion today was suddenly on the verge of becoming a reality.
Before Kawasaki could start celebrating though, the red flags came out due to the lack of grip and Laverty and Guintoli would be credited with second and third respectively. Davide Giugliano matched his race one effort in fourth ahead of Chaz Davies while Vincent Philippe made up for his race one disappointment by taking sixth ahead of Marco Melandri who lost ground with an apparent technical problem four laps in.
2013 eni Superbike World Championship – Riders Championship Standings After Round 13: Magny Cours | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pos | Rider | Bike | Team | Wins | Pts |
1 | ▶ Tom Sykes | Kawasaki ZX-10R | Kawasaki Racing Team | 9 | 411 |
2 | ▶ Eugene Laverty | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | Aprilia Racing Team | 7 | 374 |
3 | ▶ Sylvain Guintoli | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | Aprilia Racing Team | 1 | 373 |
4 | ▶ Marco Melandri | BMW S1000RR | BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK | 3 | 339 |
5 | ▶ Chaz Davies | BMW S1000RR | BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK | 3 | 270 |
6 | ▲ Davide Giugliano | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | Althea Racing | 195 | |
7 | ▲ Michel Fabrizio | Honda CBR1000RR | PATA Honda World Superbike | 186 | |
8 | ▼ Loris Baz | Kawasaki ZX-10R | Kawasaki Racing Team | 1 | 180 |
9 | ▼ Jonathan Rea | Honda CBR1000RR | PATA Honda World Superbike | 1 | 176 |
10 | ▶ Jules Cluzel | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | FIXI Crescent Suzuki | 162 | |
11 | ▲ Ayrton Badovini | Ducati 1199 Panigale R | Team Ducati Alstare | 127 | |
12 | ▼ Leon Camier | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | FIXI Crescent Suzuki | 114 | |
13 | ▲ Leon Haslam | Honda CBR1000RR | PATA Honda World Superbike | 91 | |
14 | ▼ Max Neukirchner | Ducati 1199 Panigale R | MR-Racing | 84 | |
15 | ▶ Carlos Checa | Ducati 1199 Panigale R | Team Ducati Alstare | 80 | |
16 | ▶ Federico Sandi | Kawasaki ZX-10R | Pedercini Team | 54 | |
17 | ▶ Toni Elias | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | Red Devils Roma | 46 | |
18 | ▶ Mark Aitchison | Kawasaki ZX-10R | Pedercini Team | 33 | |
19 | ▶ Vittorio Iannuzzo | BMW S1000RR | Grillini Dentalmatic SBK | 27 | |
20 | ▲ David Salom | Kawasaki ZX-10R | Kawasaki Racing Team | 22 | |
21 | ▼ Ivan Clementi | BMW S1000RR | HTM Racing | 18 | |
22 | ▲ Vincent Philippe | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | FIXI Crescent Suzuki | 13 | |
23 | ▲ Lorenzo Lanzi | Ducati 1098R | Mesaroli Transports A.S. | 13 | |
24 | ▼ Niccolo Canepa | Ducati 1199 Panigale R | Team Ducati Alstare | 12 | |
25 | ▶ Fabrizio Lai | Kawasaki ZX-10R | Pedercini Team | 11 | |
26 | ▲ Michele Pirro | Ducati 1199 Panigale R | Team Ducati Alstare | 10 | |
27 | ▼ Alexander Lundh | Kawasaki ZX-10R | Pedercini Team | 10 | |
28 | ▼ Roger Lee Hayden | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | Michael Jordan Motorsports | 8 | |
29 | ▼ Blake Young | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | FIXI Crescent Suzuki | 8 | |
30 | ▼ Markus Reiterberger | BMW S1000RR | Vanzon-Remeha-BMW | 7 | |
31 | ▼ Glenn Allerton | BMW S1000RR | Next Gen Motorsports | 6 | |
32 | ▼ Tolga Uprak | Kawasaki ZX-10R | CMS-Eypbike Racing Team | 5 | |
33 | ▼ Matej Smrz | Yamaha YZF-R1 | Yamaha Motor Deutschland | 4 | |
34 | ▼ Jamie Stauffer | Honda CBR1000RR | Team Honda Racing | 4 | |
35 | ▼ Yunus Ercelik | BMW S1000RR | Sampiyon 169 Team | 3 | |
36 | ▼ Danny Eslick | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | Michael Jordan Motorsports | 2 | |
37 | ▼ Kosuke Akiyoshi | Honda CBR1000RR | PATA Honda World Superbike | 2 | |
38 | ▼ Noriyuki Haga | BMW S1000RR | Grillini Dentalmatic SBK | 2 | |
Final Round: Jerez (October 20th) |