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Tom Sykes looking for home glory at Silverstone

After the sad and tragic weekend in Moscow, the World Superbike Championship will be back this weekend on the Silverstone stage for ninth round of the 2013 season. Both Kawasaki Racing Team riders have several reasons to look forward with optimism to the second GP of the year on British soil: at the Donington round in May, Tom Sykes had his home crowd going ballistic with the first ‘double win’ of his career, while team mate Loris Baz is about to race again on the track where he clinched his first and so for only win in the WSBK championship, which he later topped off with the second place in Race 2.

With no points scored in the only race of the Russian GP (where he saw his beloved Ninja catching fire), Tom Sykes definitely needs a great result in Silverstone, possibly something better than the eighth and twelfth places he went home with last year. Now 4 points behind reinstated leader Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing) in the standings, Mr.Superpole is definitely eager to get back on track after the ill-fated Moscow round:

““At the previous round we had an issue in the race but we had been fastest in most of the practice sessions and had great race pace. So in that respect I am happy. When you are pushing at the front of races sometimes mistakes or issues come along. Last year at Silverstone in normal conditions the Ninja ZX-10R was good but in the wet conditions of raceday we struggled a bit. I think many people understand that we have made a big step with the set-up since then. I am looking forward to racing again in front of my home crowd and hopefully we can have a similar kind of result as we did at Donington, but we will see. I am going to Silverstone relaxed and motivated and we can look to hopefully get ourselves back on track. There is a long summer break afterwards with three weeks off; then in September the calendar gets really busy again. So a good result at Silverstone would be ideal to enjoy the summer break all the more.”

Partly helped by the particularly unstable weather conditions, Loris Baz last year won Race-1 after a memorable last lap, when he pipped BMW Goldbet’s Italian duo Michel Fabrizio and Aytron Badovini, with the latter who crossed the finish line tumbling after making contact with Jonathan Rea’s Fireblade. Last year the young Frenchman arrived in Silvestone with just five rounds of experience in WSBK - he began filling in for Joan Lascorz at the Donington round - while now he is sixth in the championship but with only one podium finish to its name, the third place in Race 2 at Assen. No wonder he’s hungry for a strong result on one of his lucky tracks:

“I had a short holiday in Spain after Moscow and now I am ready for the Silverstone weekend. After everything that happened in Moscow it will be good to be back racing. I really like Silverstone and after I won a race there last year I had a really good weekend. We are at a moment in the season when I need a strong weekend. I think we can make a good weekend and we need it again. I am not sure why I like Silverstone but I always enjoyed it when I rode it in Superstock and in BSB. It is a really nice track and to go England is always cool because I know the British spectators and I have some good fans there so I am always happy to go to race in the UK.”

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

Cal Crutchlow signs two-year deal with Ducati, maybe

We wonder how Cal Crutchlow will react on Twitter when he finds out that he has signed a two-year deal with Ducati?

According to Yamaha boss Lin Jarvis, Crutchlow was likely to decide which team he would be riding for in 2014 before this month’s Indianapolis round, now Spanish websitemotocuatro.com has supposedly jumped the gun and is reporting that Ducati will announce signing the British rider for the upcoming two seasons, within the next 24 hours.

The 28-year old has never hidden the fact that he wants a factory ride, and with the Honda and Yamaha factory seats already tied up for next season - and maybe even longer - the remaining choice could only be Ducati, who tried to hire him even last year.

If the announcement should be true, the British rider will be joining his former 2012 Yamaha Tech3 team mate, Andrea Dovizioso, and replacing Nicky Hayden, after the Anerican’s five year stint with the Italian manufacturer.

Do you think that Crutchlow will be able to help fix and tame Desmosedici?

via TWOWHEELSBLOG

INJE : UN PLATEAU DE 11 AUTOS POUR LE COUP D'ENVOI.

A seulement quelques jours du début de l'Asian Le Mans Series, on attend toujours la liste définitive des 3 Heures d'Inje Autopia. Pour ce premier round en Corée du Sud, le plateau devrait se situer autour des dix autos. La victoire se jouera entre deux Morgan LMP2. OAK Racing-Total sera dur à battre compte tenu de son équipage composé de Ho Pin Tung, David Cheng et Jeffrey Lee. Dans le camp adverse des Chinois de KCMG, on fera confiance au duo Thompson/Nandy sachant que James Winslow vient d'être confirmé comme troisième homme. Aucune LMPC n'a relevé le défi.

Il était prévu que les GTE ne roulent plus dans le championnat mais finalement une Ferrari 458 Italia sera de la partie avec un certain Kamui Kobayashi au volant. Le Japonais a confirmé qu'il ne prendrait part qu'à ce meeting sud coréen. Avec seulement deux LMP2 en piste, on aura au moins une GT sur le podium. C'est du côté de la catégorie GTC que l'on trouve le plus gros du contingent avec une belle diversité : Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin et McLaren. On aura même deux Lamborghini Trofeo qui seront engagées elles aussi en GTC.

L'Asian Le Mans Series ne sera pas la seule en piste ce week-end puisque les spectateurs pourront y voir le Ferrari Challenge, l'Audi R8 LMS Cup et la Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. Les concurrents de la série Le Mans prendront la piste vendredi de 9h30 à 10h30 pour les premiers essais libres avant une deuxième session de 13h30 à 14h30. Une dernière séance d'essais libres sera programmée samedi de 8h30 à 9h avant des qualifications de 12h15 à 12h45. Le warm up aura lieu de 17h45 à 18h05. Selon le timetable, le départ des 3 Heures d'Inje Autopia sera donné dimanche à 8 heures du matin mais on penche plutôt pour un départ en début d'après-midi (heure locale). Un live streaming de la course sur un site coréen sachant que le décalage horaire avec le pays est de 7 heures.

Laurent Mercier(Endurance-Info)

3 Heures d'Inje Autopia
18	KCMG	Morgan LMP2	Nandy-Thompson-Winslow
24	OAK Racing-Total	Morgan LMP2	Tung-Cheng-Lee
70	Taisan Ken Endless	Ferrari F458 Italia	Kobayashi-Yokomizo
91	AAI	McLaren MP4-12C	TBA-TBA
92	AAI	McLaren MP4-12C	TBA-TBA
77	AF Corse	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Bertolini-Wyatt-Rugolo
26	Taisan Ken Endless	Porsche 996 GT300	Mineko-Taniguchi
007	Craft AMR	Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3	Mücke-Yu
37	BBT	Lamborghini Gallardo	TBA-TBA
1	Lamborghini Trophy car 1	Lamborghini Trophy	TBA-TBA
2	Lamborghini Trophy Car 2	Lamborghini Trophy	TBA-TBA