Rizla Suzuki new boy Tom Sykes has had a meteoric rise through the British Racing ranks. Just two years ago, he was campaigning in British Supersport, and now he finds himself as a favourite for the BSB title.
Winter testing saw Sykes and new team-mate Atsushi Watanabe blitzing lap records at various Spanish tracks and the 22-year-old Yorkshireman can’t wait to get out there and mix it up when the season opens at Brands Hatch on April 6.
He said: “So far, so good. I am really enjoying it. The whole team has a great atmosphere going on. Jack [Valentine] has put together a great team. Obviously I am getting on great with the GSX-R and first impressions at Mallory in the beginning were good, touch wood we should be ok.”
He reckons the series will still be hard-fought, even though champion Ryuichi Kiyonari has moved to World Superbikes: “The pace will be there for sure, there are still world class riders in the field.”
Those riders include Watanabe, the current All-Japan Superbike Champion who was only 0.47 seconds behind him at Al Carras. Watanabe seems to have adapted well to both the bike and the British circuits and has had plenty of help, particularly from three-times BSB champ John Reynolds. The Japanese rider speaks little English and currently has a translator at his side, which is allowing him to successfully build up relationships and communicate with all of his team.
There has been successful testing of the majority of parts and great progress has been made regarding setup. Sykes says he felt comfortable on the bike from the start and the main difference that he has noticed with the Suzuki compared to last year’s Honda Fireblade is: “You can play more with the throttle when on the side of the tyre.”
And tyres will play a big part in this year’s series, with the one-make Pirelli rubber coming into effect. Sykes is used to running on Dunlops and as well as having different constructions and compounds, they are also slightly smaller than he used last year.
The team so far have only tested on similar tyres to those which will be used in the races, but they have still gathered informative and successful results. The riders’ first experience of actual race tyres will be at the next testing session where they will look to improve even more as the race season draws in.

Showing maturity belying his age, Sykes has no hard feelings towards former team boss Paul Bird, who was fairly outspoken when Sykes and Shane Byrne left his team at the end of last year. “I just went that route, it was definitely a good choice,” he said. “I had no hard feelings, everybody knows what goes on there and I expected it in a way, but I just kept out of it.”