2013 Istanbul World Superbike Race Two: Where Is Everyone?

The last race of the World Superbike weekend was held over 18 laps at 25C in front of an emptying grandstand, the fans having come for the Supersport race.

Tom Sykes, as he did in the first race, had an excellent start, clearing off from four Aprilias and two BMWs on his Kawasaki. Sylvain Guintoli led Davide Giugliano and Eugene Laverty while Toni Elias fended off Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies.

On the second lap, both Laverty and Elias made quick work of Giugliano, while Sykes made a gap at the front. Eugene Laverty started hounding Sylvain Guintoli and took second place from him at the end of the back straight, while setting the fastest lap. Marco Melandri also passed Giugliano and set his sights on Toni Elias, wobbling a little at the end of the straight, not permitting him to pass on the brakes. The satellite Aprilia demonstrated that it was not a slow bike, but Melandri was able to pass him a couple of laps later.

At a third of race distance, Tom Sykes held a 1.4 second lead over Eugene Laverty but over the next six laps, Laverty slowly but surely reeled in the race leader and was able to pass him at two thirds distance, with a block pass in the middle of the fiddly corners between the back straight and the start/finish straight.

Laverty had the pace, kneading out the lead tenth by tenth, hot-lapping, unimpeded by Sykes while Guintoli was lacking the pace to improve on third place.

Eugene Laverty won the race by a comfortable 1.2 seconds, made possible by a flawless last six laps, ahead of Tom Sykes and his teammate Sylvain Guintoli. The BMWs of Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies were split on the last lap by a tenacious Toni Elias, capping an excellent debut Superbike weekend.

Ayrton Badovini didn’t start the race, and all fifteen starters finished.

Results: