Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) arrives in France for the penultimate round of the year in a leading position after his latest race win at Laguna Seca, which makes it seven victories so far in 2013.

Sykes cannot be joined by his regular team-mate Loris Baz, for what would be the 20-year-old French rider’s home round, as Loris continues his recovery from a fractured vertebra suffered at the German SBK round in Early September. He should return for the final round of the year in Spain, at Jerez.

As in the USA last week, David Salom will ride in place of Loris on the second official KRT Ninja ZX-10R. A top ten finish in race two in America, David’s second ninth place finish underlined the performance level of a machine which has allowed Sykes and Baz to compete at the top each and every weekend, and win races in what has already been an intense season.

Sykes showed real maturity in the American round a few days ago to overcome an unexpected lack of rear traction in race two, especially as he looked on course for a double win following his victory in the opening race during what was his first ever visit to Laguna Seca.

Tom has now recorded seven race wins, 14 podium places, seven Superpole wins and ten fastest laps in the 12 SBK rounds so far. He leads the championship by 23-points with four points scoring races remaining.

After some recent experiments with race schedules, and even the days on which the races take place, France sees a return to the conventional weekend format, with Superpole on Saturday and two races on Sunday.

Aussie Mark Aitchison and Italian Federico Sandi continue their quest for more points in France, riding for the Kawasaki Team Pedercini Superbike World Championship outfit.

The Superstock classes return at Magny Cours, which means Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki) and Romain Lanusse (Team MRS Kawasaki) will have a home round to compete at in the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup, alongside other strong Kawasaki entries from Leandro Mercado (Kawasaki Team Pedercini) and his team-mate Lorenzo Savadori.

Tom Sykes:

“Magny Cours is a circuit where we had a good result last year and the Ninja ZX-10R worked really well there. We have improved the bike again this year so I am looking forward to going back there. I hope we can have a good race weekend and hopefully we can have an advantage over our competitors. It is that time of the season and everybody is giving maximum effort. I will have a good discussion with my crew chief Marcel and all my team to be ready for the Magny Cours races. It is much better to be leading than to be behind in the points at this stage.”

David Salom:

“I will ride the KRT Superbike again this weekend but I only found out very recently that I would be able to. I asked my Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres Supersport team if I could and they said OK, so a big thank you to them. I will go back to ride with them for my home round at Jerez where I hope to bring them a good result. On the KRT Superbike in America I had a good result in race two, because the bike and set-up worked well. I need more track time on the Ninja ZX-10R to try to get closer to the front in France. The guys always do a good job and they know the bike very well, which should help a lot this weekend. A 1000cc Superbike is very different from a 600cc Supersport bike and it has a lot of power! The tyres also feel very different on the Superbike because they use slicks.”

Guim Roda, Kawasaki Racing Team Manager:

“We considered, together with Loris, that 45 days should allow the injured bone to recover properly before he gets back on the bike. He should be ready for the final round at Jerez, but not Magny Cours. We offered David Salom the possibility to repeat the experience he had with us in the USA again this weekend. His Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpress Supersport World Championship team, in a very kind way, have allowed him to accept this ride and he will compete for them again in Jerez. Our target for David in France is the same as in the US - to grow up session-by-session, improve his performances and have two good races.”

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