The Kawasaki World Superbike line up will remained unchanged for the next two years. On Monday morning, the Kawasaki Racing Team announced they had signed Tom Sykes to another two-year contract for WorldSBK.
Sykes will line up alongside Jonathan Rea in 2017 and 2018, as he has for this season and last. There had been a lot of speculation that Sykes could jump ship to Ducati, after the Italian factory had handed him a de facto blank check for his signature.
Sykes preferred to remain with Kawasaki, however, despite the animosity in the Kawasaki garage between the two riders.
With Sykes and Rea signed to Kawasaki, the focus turns to Ducati. Chaz Davies described his talks with the Italian factory as being at an “advanced” stage, with still a few details left to fill in.
Davies had been linked to rides in MotoGP, but the Welshman said he was only interested if he could go with the right support and the right crew around him.
The second seat at Ducati is likely to go an Italian rider, though it is uncertain whether that will be current rider Davide Giugliano.
With MotoGP seats filling up, and some riders being left out in the cold – including the two Aprilia riders Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista – Silly Season is likely to start hotting up in the World Superbike championship.
There could be more riders heading over from MotoGP to WorldSBK, while existing riders jockey for position to get the remaining strong seats on the grid.
Source: Kawasaki Racing Team
This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.
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