printBritish Supersport Championship – Round 11, Silverstone
The British Supersport Championship may have slipped from Tom Sykes' grasp
at Silverstone during the penultimate round of the series, but the young
Yorkshireman did register his seventh podium of the campaign [his fourth
consecutive 2nd place] on the TAS Suzuki. This keeps him 24 points ahead
of Eugene Laverty in the chase for second place in the championship with
only a 'double–header' at Brands to come on October 1.
Teammate Ian Lowry from Moira crashed heavily during the opening practice session
tearing a muscle from the bone that could see him miss the final races of the
season in two weeks time.
Tom Sykes
“It’s pretty annoying for me after posting 1:28.5sec times in qualifying;
we just couldn’t match the times in the race. The track temperature was
up and it caught us out when our tyre choice came up a lot less consistent. I
dug deep and stayed with Cal, but then I made a few mistakes when I was trying
just too hard. Nevertheless, a fourth consecutive second-place and a seventh
podium is encouraging. Personally I don’t think we get the recognition
we deserve on a new bike and the GSX–R600 is starting to prove a top package – we
have also had four pole positions on the bike. I’ll be looking for another
couple of podiums at Brands and obviously a win would be the icing on the cake.”
Philip Neill – Team Manager
“We keep saying it, but Tom Sykes really is the model of consistency and
maturity in this class. As Tom has already said, he struggled to get down to
his qualifying times in the race which may have been caused by the increasing
track temperature. It must be noted that we are the only challengers in the class
who have been developing a new bike in 2006; a new bike in the GSX–R600
Suzuki that we have turned into the complete package for the Supersport class.
Ian Lowry is obviously bitterly disappointed but is still holding onto 9th place
in the series but whether he will be fit for Brands – it is too early to
say.
Finally I would like to congratulate Cal Crutchlow on his championship success
and obviously the TAS Suzuki team will be looking to end the season with that
much sought after win.”
September 18th 2006