Between 2012 and 2017, Tom Sykes finished the World Superbike Championship in the top three places six times in a row, and in 2013 he became champion. When he left the Kawasaki factory team after 2018, his career fell apart.
From 2010 to 2018, Tom Sykes competed in the World Superbike Championship for Kawasaki and was a guaranteed podium finish from 2012 onwards. With a world title, 34 wins, 114 podiums and a record 51 pole positions, most of them for Team Green, the Briton is one of the most successful pilots in the World Superbike Championship.
After the 2018 season, he moved to the new BMW works team, which he drove for the next three years – and was then unceremoniously dumped. Sykes went to Ducati for 2022 and, out of necessity, to the British Superbike Championship, where he did not do well for different reasons and finished twelfth overall. In 2023, when the 37-year-old returned to the world championship with the Puccetti Kawasaki team after four disappointing meetings, an amicable separation took place.
Four weeks later, Tom stood in front of the injured Michael van der Mark in the BMW factory team at Misano, and the Englishman also rode the M1000RR in the next event on his parade route at Donington Park.
On the first lap of the second race, Sykes got a big high on the exit of Turn 8 and was pushed high into the air. Since the accident happened in the middle of the field, he was very lucky that no other driver ran over him. During the hard landing, the bearded man broke ten ribs, three of them multiple times, and his left ankle. He had to spend several days in hospital in Nottingham, followed by weeks of rehabilitation.
Since then, we have seen the 39-year-old, who has been 39 since August, several times as a guest at the SBK event. In the late summer and autumn, Sykes tried hard to get a place in the 2025 World Superbike Championship, did a lot of negotiations, established all the relationships – and still came away empty-handed.
“Of course I want to come back, I’m very motivated,” the 2013 world champion insisted to SPEEDWEEK.com. “Last year I was unlucky and I got injured at the same time as all the deals were made. That cost me my place. Unfortunately times have changed, I’m trying to understand some of the decisions that have been made.”
Although it became clear in the summer which riders would take the place in the factory teams of Bimota, BMW, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki and Yamaha as well as in the best private teams, Sykes stuck to his strategy and even refused to be hired. test rider.
“I think about being on the starting grid as a racing driver,” he said. “I hoped that the choices of other teams would be different. But it is. Some people did not understand who I am, how I am still motivated and what I can bring to the team apart from me. I am tired of designing motorcycles. At Kawasaki we had a good balance between development and the results of the race. I ended up losing three years of my work. No matter what I asked, they put the puzzle together expectations, I commented, but the invention of the engine, electronics and swing arm was not what I asked for.”
“It’s true, I’ve been out of the game for a while,” Sykes concluded. “Andrea Iannone was out for four years and we saw all the results. Time away from the motorcycle is not a bad thing; You can also turn the argument and say that this time creates hunger and motivation. It saddens me that drivers who lack this motivation are given a chance. I know that nothing changes for the reason for this. So I have to accept the situation and accept it – or not.
Did the Huddersfield man earn enough to retire? “I had a good job,” smiled Tom. “That also helped my ex-wife.”
Teams and drivers World Superbike Championship 2025:
Ducati:
Aruba.it: Alvaro Bautista (E), Nicolo Bulega (I)
Elf Marc VDS: Sam Lowes (GB)
MGM Bonovo: Scott Redding (GB)
Baby Spark: Danilo Petrucci (I), Yari Montella (I)
Car racing: Ryan Vickers (GB)
Go Eleven: Andrea Iannone (I)
Yamaha:
Get Prometeon: Jonathan Rea (GB), Andrea Locatelli (I)
GYTR GRT: Remy Gardner (AUS), Dominique Aegerter (CH)
Motox Racing: Tito Rabat (E), Bahattin Sofuoglu (TR)
Honda:
HRC: Iker Lecuona (L), Xavier Vierge (left)
Petronas MIE: Tarran Mackenzie (GB), Adam Norrodin ?
Kawasaki:
Kawasaki: Garrett Gerloff (USA)
BMW:
ROCKET: Toprak Razgatlioglu (TR), Michael van der Mark (NL)
Bimotor:
Bimota and KRT: Alex Lowes (GB), Axel Bassani (I)
