Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) scored a commanding win in the first race at the Portimao round of the FIM Superbike World Championship, with his team-mate Loris Baz (KRT) joining him on the podium in third. Despite finishing off podium in race two Sykes extended his championship lead to 43 points. KRT SBK Evo rider David Salom won the Evo class in race one.

With a dry race opening victory and then a wet weather affected eighth in race two Sykes had a day of contrasts but the final result was an increase in his championship lead, and a season victory tally of seven so far. Sykes joined Max Biaggi on a career total of 21 SBK race victories after Portimao.

For Baz a sixth in race two was as much as he could get when the weather conditions changed unexpectedly and the full wet second race, of only 18 laps, was completed. Added to his podium score from race one he still managed to score enough points to remain in third place in the championship, only five points behind the second place rider.

In the first race Sykes had an almost flag-to-flag win, powering ahead of all his opponents and even surviving a worrying time mid-race when the clouds that had gathered finally dropped light rain on the Portimao track surface. Sykes, with no other riders to judge pace on slowed for a time but after the rain stopped he carried on at full pace on his Ninja ZX-10R. In race two he simply did not have the required set-up to compete for a podium again in full wet conditions for all 18-laps and dropped from a long time second place to eighth.

Baz was third in race one after pushing up to second and having to drop back to fifth at one time as the very slight rain arrived. He got going again to go third but in race two he went on to finish inside the top six in the rain, despite not finding his own personal best machine settings.

David Salom’s race one was full of fight and desire and at the end he got the best of his Sylvain barrier to take yet another win in the Evo category. In race two, in the wet, he was unable to match the race one best and he finished 17th, two places off a point score. In the Manufacturers’ Championship Kawasaki still leads, by 28 points.

Laguna Seca in the USA will host the next round of the championship, in only a few days time, with raceday on Sunday 13th July.


Tom Sykes:

“I enjoy winning races and the good thing is that the Ninja ZX-10R is giving me the feedback to be able to do this so I am very happy at the moment. I had a poor start in race one and it is a long race round here, long enough race to make some corrections. I am happy because we had a good gap then the rain started to come. When you are leading the championship and leading the race you do not want to do anything stupid and it was very difficult to calculate the levels of grip because in some parts of the circuit it was raining more heavily than in others. The team gave me great pit board signals and luckily the cloud disappeared with a good amount of laps left, to go so I could take an advantage again. In the wet conditions of race two we had some issues but I cannot be disappointed because we have shown great potential. Sometimes we are dealt these strange races and there was too much for me to lose today. Some other riders made mistakes and so I extended my championship lead compared to when we arrived here.”

Loris Baz:

“In race one I saw the rain at one time and I did not know how strong it was so I did not take to many risks until the rain had gone. I am really happy because yesterday I was struggling to be inside the top eight on a race tyre and we found some good things in the morning warm up, so well done to the team. In race two we have been struggling a bit to find our best real wet settings but we have made progress in that area recently. In the beginning I was missing some feeling so I was waiting a bit and had some visibility issues. I am happy enough because I found a good pace. We have made a good step in the wet here and we lost almost nothing in the championship standings, as I am only five points from second place.”

David Salom

“I had a very good race and a very good fight with Sylvain Barrier in the first race. I waited almost behind him and I tried a couple of times to see where to pass him on the last lap. Seven laps from the end my hand was in a lot of pain and it was not possible to move the bike as I wanted to. I went off line maybe four or five times but I gave it all on the last lap and won the Evo race. The team worked very hard on the bike and it was in good condition in the race. In the second race, in the wet, it was difficult for me. I did not have the confidence even though the bike is very good in those conditions so I could not go faster. The problem in the wet was me not the bike and I did not want to risk a crash and we still have a good advantage in the championship.”

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