Max Biaggi (Aprilia) won the WSB championship earlier today in France by the narrowest margin ever…1/2 point! The unlucky second place finisher was Tom Sykes (Kawasaki).
While Biaggi crashed out of wet race 1, and could manage only fifth in race 2, Sykes had a good day with third place in race 1 and a win in race 2. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati) took the win in race 1 ahead of second place Marco Melandri (BMW) and third place Sykes. Finishing immediately behind Sykes in race 2 were Jonathan Rea (Honda) in second and Guintoli in third.
For additional details, results and points visit the official WSB site here.
One thing seems for certain…..BMW’s rekindleing of racing “spirit” has provided a worthy challange to those that thought they did’nt have it in them to compete. Their obvious passion for what they believe a bike should be is a common quality amidst all the best teams, which is where the racing really lies!
Max, you are the man!! crashed in race 1, and started 10th in race 2 and still hang on to teh championship. Well deserved.
Technically Biaggi, on a Aprilia won the title by .5 of the points. But until the end of most races Sykes led including most pole positions before the actual race. It was really frustrating to see Sykes lead most the races in the 1st half, only to end up going backwards due to lack of rear tire adhesion. For Sykes to end up in 2nd by .5 of a point is cruel. But that’s how it works out w/o cheating. I hope Sykes get’s paid a bonus for his effort and can dominate next year. Up to now Kawasaki wasn’t even a real contender. If I was Biaggi I’d retire now.
So I’m curious, Kawasaki and Sykes deserve sympathy because they developed a bike that was fast until it torched its rear tire in the middle of the race but Biaggi and Aprilia deserve nothing for developing a bike good enough to be strong at the end of the race and win the championship while overcoming a number of crashes and DNFs?
Poor Max goes into the last weekend of the year having earned over a race win lead in points, gets a rainy race day instead of the sunny, dry conditions he wants. He needs only a mid-field position to win the championship, hits a slick spot and crashes in race 1 but fate has been cruel to Sykes? We have very different ideas of cruel.
By the way, I’d also like to point out Biaggi is probably only a few years younger than Sykes’ father. How much harder is it to stay in shape and keep your drive at 42? I’ve never been a Biaggi fan but I’m impressed with him (and Checa) running in the front all these years on.
I always root for the underdog. It’s an American thing.
Do I sense a bias here from Motorcycle Daily? This is a very short description for what was a very exciting conclusion to a major international race series. And you gave it what, a hundred words?
And “Biaggi …could manage only fifth in race 2”? You make him sound weak. He did exactly what he had to do to win the championship. He was way behind Laverty in fourth and equally ahead of Giugliano in sixth. So what was he supposed to do? Go faster for no good reason and risk throwing it away on a slippery track?
And “The unlucky second place finisher was Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)”? He wasn’t unlucky; he was very skillful. But the championship is based on total points for the entire series, and Tom came up short. And it’s not like he didn’t have a great opportunity to score more points in the first race.
I think a more proper perspective lies in a basketball analogy. It’s not so much the percentage difference in the points total as it is the strategy that got the competitors there.
Forza Max!
Gutted for Sykes. Only half a frickin point!
Hope he and Kawasaki have enough in themselves for another attack next year.
No kidding. If it weren’t for a few of his competitors (the ones between him and Max) crashing out he’d have locked it up. I’m sure they’re still happy. They took the Kawasaki from nowhere to 2nd in the Championship in 1.5 seasons and capped it with a win in the last race. They have a lot to be proud of.