Geoffrey Dore reports as Tom Sykes finishes disappointed…
Britain’s Tom Sykes narrowly missed out on a second consecutive World Superbike Championship as Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli claimed a double win in Qatar to secure his maiden title.
With Sykes holding a 12-point lead going into the final two races of the season the 29-year-old would have been confident of seeing off his main rival for the championship, but after reducing the deficit to just three following race one, Guintoli completed the double to prevail in the standings by six points.
There was also a controversial moment towards the end of race one as Sykes’ teammate Loris Baz ignored team orders instructing him to swap positions with Sykes, a move later described by the outgoing champion as ‘immature and disrespectful.’
With the series finale taking place under the lights of the Losail International Circuit both men would make a steady start to race one, but it would be Guintoli who managed to find a better rhythm in the early stages as Sykes would fall back as far as fifth.
As Sykes struggled for pace on his Kawasaki ZX-10R Guintoli would manage to relegate long-time leader Baz down to second by taking the lead of the race, before Sykes reacted to his to his title rival’s progress by moving himself up to third.
However, on the penultimate lap Baz received a message on his pit board asking him to lose a position to his teammate, but in an amazing sequence of events the 21-year-old – riding in his last race for the team – decided to ignore the order that would have seen Sykes move up to second and take a seven-point lead into the final race, as Guintoli crossed the finishing line ahead of the Kawasaki duo.
Ahead of race two, the repercussions of Baz’s decision meant that both Guintoli and Sykes knew the winner would be crowned world champion in a winner-take-all scenario, though Sykes appeared to acknowledge that his Kawasaki was slightly lacking performance in comparison to its Aprilia counterpart.
Yet it would be Sykes who would get the holeshot as the lights went out and lead into the first corner, though he would soon lose out to Pata Honda rider Jonathan Rea, as Guintoli slotted into fourth. It wouldn’t be long however before the Aprilia rider worked his way past the Ducati of Davide Guigliano and Sykes to move into second, falling into a similar groove that he had enjoyed during race one.
With there being a sense of inevitability about it, Guintoli would eventually use the power of his Aprilia on the 1km straight to pass Rea and hit the front of the race. The 32-year-old would continue to stretch his lead, setting a new lap record along the way, while Sykes moved past Rea into second.
Although the Yorkshireman endeavoured to reduce the gap to Guintoli, he would soon fall back into the clutches of Rea, with the Northern Irishman reclaiming second spot as Sykes appeared to suffer tyre problems.
But there would be no stopping Guintoli, who managed the gap to Rea and Sykes before taking the chequered flag by 3.568 seconds to become the first Frenchman since Raymond Roche in 1990 to take the crown.