Over the course of 228 races, Tom Sykes made himself into a Kawasaki legend. It’s easy to look at the last four years and to only see the success that Jonathan Rea has achieved on the green machine, but before 2010 the Japanese firm was struggling. Chris Walker’s win in the wet at Assen was a bright spot that punctuated ten years of failure.
From the turn of the millennium, until Sykes joined, the team had three wins, a home double at Sugo in 2010 by wildcard rider Hitoyasu Izutsu and Walker’s famous result. These weren’t lean times for Kawasaki – this was a famine. With only 19 podiums in the ten years prior to his arrival, it’s remarkable what the Englishman has achieved with the team.
“It’s the end of a great era,” reflected Sykes. “It’s been a great time, and I feel that we’ve done a great job together. We’ve all grown up a lot together. We had the chance to be three-times world champions and I’m very, very fortunate to be able to say that I’m a world champion.”
That championship is both a blessing a curse for Sykes. Speaking before his final races with Kawasaki, he admitted that four years of being Rea’s teammate have seen him taking an emotional battering.
In Sykes’ mind, there are reasons for it, and they revolve around the engine and the regulation changes in recent years. Winning the title proves to himself that he can be the best in the world, but it also gives a rider a hunger to get back on top.
That belief that drives a rider to a title can also be eroded by defeat after defeat.
“It’s not like I’m doing a bad job, I’ve still been able to win races, I’m just not doing as good a job as Jonathan. Having been world champion and winning lots of races, it makes it easier for me to accept the performance compared to Jonathan. I can accept it.”
“The fact is we’re riding the same bike and he’s riding it better than me. I feel his riding style puts him where he needs to be. He’s absolutely executing at 100% though, but I can go to bed, put my head on the pillow, and accept that on the same bike, a very talented rider is beating me.”
Sykes went on to comment about the changes in bikes over the years. Engine changes are the single biggest step that has changed the feeling for the 2013 champion, and he went on to say that throughout the course of any race he feels that he can’t attack a single corner in his natural style.
Whether it’s because of fixed gear ratios, or the engine delivery and inertia, he has been hurt more and more with each passing year with Kawasaki. What gives him hope though is that some bikes and riders can be ridden as he wants. With a move to Shaun Muir Racing and the brand new BMW S1000RR beckoning the change could work perfectly for Sykes.
“The biggest change for me has been the engine. It was more of race-oriented from 2012-14. I’m quite particular with the bike and back then, we were selecting gear boxes, which were absolutely spot-on.”
“I still remember my first few laps from testing in 2015, and I came into the pits and I knew immediately it wouldn’t be the same as before. There’s a part of me that feels a little bit hard done by it all. I see Jonathan doing an amazing job, and I’d like to show him what I’m capable of and have a proper fight with him.”
“It would be good fun to battle with Jonathan, but I’ve not really had the chance. I’d love to have battled with Jonathan on the 2014 bike because you can’t compare it, engine-wise, to when Jonathan joined in ’15. They’re literally like night and day.”
“I’d have loved the opportunity to have a race against someone like Jonathan on that previous engine specification, and just see how we run. I’ve tried to adapt my style, but I think Chaz Davies has a similar style to me. He’s very heavy on the brakes and carries a lot of entry speed. I think he’d probably complain of similar issues if he was on the same bike as me.”
It took Sykes a few years to get the Kawasaki into his ballpark for a title assault against Max Biaggi in 2012. The confidence needed to compete in WorldSBK on the Kawasaki seemed to come overnight for Sykes.
In 2010 a one-off return to the British Superbike series gave him a double-win and the shot in the arm that turned around his career. A week later in WorldSBK he had a season best finish and the final rounds of the year were a springboard towards 2011 and his first career win.
“When I first raced the Kawasaki with Paul Bird, the bike was so far out of the ballpark of where we need it to be. I was doing terrible in WorldSBK, but went back to race as a wildcard in BSB at Brands Hatch. People still think that the British Championship is at a great level and that race winners from there can come to the world championship and win races, but the level is so different.”
“I was finishing outside of the top ten, but when we went to British Championship we won two races that weekend. It was quite funny actually with Birdy because he said before Race 1 at Brands, “If you don’t win this race, just keep riding.” I walked away, but but my quick response to him as I was walking was, ‘well, make sure you put enough fuel in it then so I can get home.'”
“From that point we had a little bit of bad luck that stopped us winning three titles, and we only missed out on them by a few points. Everybody had written myself and Kawasaki off after the 2012 season, and thought that we had missed our only chance of winning the title. We proved them wrong in ’13 and the next year it went to the last race again. Those were good years.”
Sykes is keen to prove the doubters wrong again and show that in 2019 he can be back at the front and challenging for wins and titles once again.
The switch to the BMW could be amazing for Sykes. His speed is still clear to see but the confidence to get the job done over a race distance has also been clearly lacking. New surroundings and a bike could be just what he needs.
Photo: WorldSBK
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