Former WorldSBK Champion Tom Sykes believes that series bosses are screwing with the regulations to control outcomes for good television.
An angry Sykes said after the second race at Donington that he still isn’t able to find a good setup for an entire weekend and ‘felt like a rookie’ as he dropped back through the pack.
“There is one thing for sure, I do not feel we have got the package underneath me at this moment to show my potential,” said Sykes, speaking at the track.
“We can collect these Superpoles and make fast laps, which is the main thing, but I am not able to get the best from the bike, and that is what’s kind of very frustrating. Riding around today I was so disappointed, frustrated, I almost felt like a rookie again. I could not get the bike into the corners like I wanted, though them or even out the exit. To say I am pissed off is an understatement. I even said to Marcel that I am angry. I do not understand why the bike is not doing what I want it to do – especially here in Donington Park.”
Sykes future was the centre of much speculation at Donington, with rumours of a Yamaha deal and another deal with Kawasaki. His answer to the question of wheter he thought it was time for a change, he said: “You just never know, it is one of those things at the end of the day. I have a good relationship here at Kawasaki but the bike is not suiting my riding style. I know I have got a lot more to offer personally. We will just see how the future goes but as for now we can’t really be focusing too much on that.”
His answer to the possibility of how more rule changes for 2019, which may hinder Kawasaki and Sykes even more, may affect any decision, he said, “All they are doing with the rules is that if somebody is doing their job properly, like Kawasaki, they are basically making them suffer. On the TV and on the timings it is not showing the real picture, or the true picture. It is all smoke and mirrors at the moment.
“If Kawasaki is doing a good job they will just screw us to the ground and vice versa – if someone else was doing a great job they would screw them to the ground. So all they are doing is controlling the outcome for the television.”
