Sykes shines at the Race of the Year
A bumper crowd turned out today to see Tom Sykes aboard his Rizla Suzuki as he dominated the Race of the Year at Mallory Park.
This was Sykes’s last outing on the Rizla machine before moving to Yamaha Italia World Superbike team. He achieved pole position, race win and set a new lap record with a time of 51.271secs at the 1.39-mile Leicestershire venue.
Karl Harris, who was a late entry, did a superb job on the Co-Ordit Yamaha pushing Sykes from start to finish but coming home in second place to the Rizla Suzuki rider. The final step of the podium went to Glen Richards who had his work cut out for him racing his Championship winning 600cc Triumph against full blown 1000cc superbikes.
Mallory Park is known as the friendly circuit and today it witnessed saw an act of friendship on the starting grid. Dan Hagerty who had qualified in fifth position was having mechanical problems as the riders lined up on the grid. Pete Bradshaw who had qualified 23rd decided to give his race bike to Hagerty so he could take part in the race. The riders swapped bikes on the grid with Bradshaw sitting out proceedings and Hagerty going on to take fourth place on an unfamiliar bike.
The support races were action packed and the large crowd of hardened bike fans were not disappointed with the days racing.
Sunday 26th October will see the Masters Top Hat Saloon Car Races take place at Mallory Park. To book tickets in advance simply visit www.mallorypark.co.uk or call on 01455 842931. Children under 16 are free and access to the paddock and parking is of no extra cost.
Mallory Park is situated in the heart of the Midlands in Leicestershire just off the A47 between Leicester and Hinckley and easily accessible from the M1, M69 or M6. For further directions, please visit www.mallorypark.co.uk.