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World Superbike
WSBK: Sykes Or Psych?
Is the relatively unheralded Tom Sykes poised to emerge as one of the World Superbike elite in 2012?
Kawasaki Racing Team's Tom Sykes (Photo: Kawasaki Racing)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: The 2012 Superbike World Championship season opener from Phillip Island, Australia will air back-to-back on SPEED Sunday, February 26 at 2:30pm and 3:30pm ET.
Following hundreds of laps turned over five days of testing just days in advance of this weekend's World Superbike season opener, it wasn't reigning champ Carlos Checa who posted the fastest time, nor '10 king Max Biaggi, '11 runner-up Marco Melandri, or the always dangerous Jonathan Rea.'
And that quick time wasn't turned on a Ducati, Aprilia, Honda, Suzuki, or even a BMW.
No, the man who heads into this weekend's battle down under with momentum on his side is Tom Sykes of the revamped Kawasaki Racing Team. Making his preseason test blitz all the more impressive is the fact that Sykes is one of the few riders who isn't especially fond of Phillip Island -- in fact, it's one of his least fancied venues on the tour.
If that speed translates to opening weekend success, exactly what might we expect from Sykes and the developing ZX-10R as the season progresses?
And that's the million dollar question. Despite having podiumed as a wild card in '08 and now set to kick off his fourth full World Superbike season in a career that has seen him take a pair of pole positions and a victory, Sykes remains something of an unknown quantity.
Every bit as touted as anyone in the bumper rookie crop of '09, Sykes' reputation subsequently took a sizable hit when he performed, well, like a rookie saddled with a somewhat middling racebike, while his fellow rookie teammate, Ben Spies, stormed to the title in one of the championships' all-time great performances.
Their contrasting forms saw Spies immediate graduate to Grand Prix racing and Sykes nearly left without a ride for 2010. Only in hindsight did it become apparent that Spies was a unique talent, perhaps unmatched in World Superbike history, and the R1 -- especially in its '09 guise -- was not all that special.
Sykes managed to stick around in the paddock but his relative talent continued to be masked by two incarnations of the ZX-10R and the PBM Kawasaki team that might have been more noteworthy for off-track drama than results taken on it.
9th with Yamaha in 2009, Sykes fared no better in 2010 or 2011, finishing 14th and 13th, respectively, however, during that time he largely outclassed teammates with rather impressive pedigrees -- Chris Vermeulen and Joan Lascorz.
Following hundreds of laps turned over five days of testing just days in advance of this weekend's World Superbike season opener, it wasn't reigning champ Carlos Checa who posted the fastest time, nor '10 king Max Biaggi, '11 runner-up Marco Melandri, or the always dangerous Jonathan Rea.'
And that quick time wasn't turned on a Ducati, Aprilia, Honda, Suzuki, or even a BMW.
No, the man who heads into this weekend's battle down under with momentum on his side is Tom Sykes of the revamped Kawasaki Racing Team. Making his preseason test blitz all the more impressive is the fact that Sykes is one of the few riders who isn't especially fond of Phillip Island -- in fact, it's one of his least fancied venues on the tour.
If that speed translates to opening weekend success, exactly what might we expect from Sykes and the developing ZX-10R as the season progresses?
And that's the million dollar question. Despite having podiumed as a wild card in '08 and now set to kick off his fourth full World Superbike season in a career that has seen him take a pair of pole positions and a victory, Sykes remains something of an unknown quantity.
Every bit as touted as anyone in the bumper rookie crop of '09, Sykes' reputation subsequently took a sizable hit when he performed, well, like a rookie saddled with a somewhat middling racebike, while his fellow rookie teammate, Ben Spies, stormed to the title in one of the championships' all-time great performances.
Their contrasting forms saw Spies immediate graduate to Grand Prix racing and Sykes nearly left without a ride for 2010. Only in hindsight did it become apparent that Spies was a unique talent, perhaps unmatched in World Superbike history, and the R1 -- especially in its '09 guise -- was not all that special.
Sykes managed to stick around in the paddock but his relative talent continued to be masked by two incarnations of the ZX-10R and the PBM Kawasaki team that might have been more noteworthy for off-track drama than results taken on it.
9th with Yamaha in 2009, Sykes fared no better in 2010 or 2011, finishing 14th and 13th, respectively, however, during that time he largely outclassed teammates with rather impressive pedigrees -- Chris Vermeulen and Joan Lascorz.
WSBK: Monza Race 0513
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