WSBK: 2013 Post Sesaon - Rider of the Year

I'll save you the scroll if you're only interested in the end result. It's Tom Sykes. You'd have to make a very convincing argument for any other outcome. However who he beat (literally and figuratively) on his way to the top is a story all to itself.
 
Second Runner up - Jonathan Rea (IRE)
Finishing the year in 9th place with a lowly 176 points, Rea displayed a grit and determination that belies the final standing. From the opening test in Phillip Island Rea made it clear that he did not intend to be hampered by his machinery. His steed, Honda's WSBK spec CBR1000RR, had not received a major update since at least the Bronze Age. Despite this he managed to post the fourth fastest overall time of the test, a full half a second ahead of 5th placed Loris Baz on Kawasaki's heavily revised ZX10R. The season opener, however was a different story with Rea holding the field to twin 8th place finishes. Aragon looked to be an upswing for the British rider as he fought to hold on to fourth place in race 1. Race 2 was a disaster, however, with Rea crossing the finish a distance 15th. Assen was a much better showing for Honda's start rider. Rea exploited the track brilliantly for his first podium finish of 2013, a second place in race 1, followed by another fourth in race 2. With 63 points and 5th in the standings behind the 84 point leader, Rea amazingly was in championship contention despite the seeming advantage of his competitors. Then came Monza with an 8th place and a DNF. Dropping to 7th in the standings, Rea would remain unable to mount a suitable charge. 
 
That is not to say, of course, that the remainder of his season was without merit. Far from it in fact. June's races in Portugal saw Rea step on the podium again. A 3rd place finish in race 1 nudged him back up to 7th in the standings, having fallen down to 8th. While he DNFed again the very next round in Imola's race 1, race 2 saw him back on the podium with in 2nd place. Then using that momentum he topped the test immediately following the race weekend. Rea's home race at Silverstone in August would be the capstone of his season with a first place finish in race 1. After such an incredible high, it was a shock when September's race in Germany was the ultimate low. An violent get-off in race 1 not only sidelined Rea for the weekend, but effectively ended his season. If every cloud has a silver lining, though, then at least he was home to support his wife Tatia for the birth of a beautiful and healthy baby boy. 
 
While his final place in the standings may seem lackluster, it is Rea's performance over the season that gets him 3rd place for RotY. Rea was able to take the aging CBR platform and not only put it on the box, but actually took home the laurels of one race ahead of much more developed competition. With the Ten Kate team getting a much needed upgrade to the CBR1000RR SP for 2014, next season may represent Rea's best chance for a stellar finish in a long time.
 
Still to come:
First Runner Up
Rider of the Year
Honorable Mention

First Runner Up - Eugene Laverty (IRE)
 
Laverty's season definitely started on the back foot. At the opening test in Australia mechanical gremlins held him to a distant 8th in the standings, behind both Hondas, a Suzuki (!) and the Ducati Panigale. Things looked grim, however testing is testing and racing is racing. When the lights went out on race 1 it was a whole other ball game. Both factory Aprilias leapt to the front of the pack where they engaged in a race long battle. Laverty ended second. Race 2 was much of the same, but this time Laverty applied the hard learned lessons of race 1 and took the top spot of the podium.
 
Two podiums, a race win and tied for championship lead, things looked good for the Irish rider. Then came round two at Aragon, where two DNFs firmly derailed his championship hopes. Now firmly 50 points behind on his championship hopes, a fourth place finish in race 1 at Assen did little to reignite the dream. Laverty followed up with a win in race 2 however, giving Aprilia their first win since the season opener. Monza provided a 3rd place podium and yet another win for his collection. Once again Laverty was second in the championship standings, only thirteen points behind teammate Sylvain Guintoli. Donnington was slightly worse with a 7th and third, which dropped Laverty back to 3rd in the standings. Even a win in Portugal's race 2 wasn't enough to get his charge on track as it was preceded by a DNF in race 1. 
 
That was the pattern for his season. Abject failure followed by the heights of success. Round 7 at Imola was another podium with a DNF. Moscow only fielded one race, and it was a DNF. Silverstone had a pair of podiums but Germany had a dismal 15th place (for a solitary point) followed by a second place. In fact, with as many times as Laverty finished either outside of or just barely into the points, it is actually amazing that he ended the season in 2nd place. This season could have, no should have been an absolute disaster for Aprilia's veteran rider. Instead he pushed through and salvaged every point that he could. That level of determination alone made him a candidate for rider of the year.
 
However there is one other event that pushed him over the edge and secured second place. Race one at Jerez, the season closer. Laverty became embroiled in a battle for the lead with rival Melandri - the man who would be replacing him at team Aprilia for 2014. Melandri took the lead with a block pass that pushed Laverty wide in the closing stages. Undetered, Laverty pushed on, caught Melandri and performed the most daring pass of the season - an outside pass on the last corner that the Italian never saw coming. Laverty took the laurels and secured his second place for the season.

Rider of the Year - Tom Sykes (ENG)
Winning the world championship is a sure fire way to put your name in the running as the best rider of the year. For some people, though, it's just not enough and they have to put a stamp on it. For 2013 Tom Sykes was one such man. There was so much else to overcome that finally lifting the title at the end of the year could almost be considered secondary in considering him RotY. Almost.
 
First, even though a lot of digital ink has been spilled on the topic it does bear to be mentioned one last time: Tom lost the 2012 title by half a point. The racing history books are filled with riders who have come close to capturing the crown only to see their drams shattered and have been unable to recover from the loss. Sykes has marked his place as being far removed from that league. After surviving what could have been a mind wrecking disaster of a season, Sykes took on the challenge of 2013 like a man renewed. The glass could have been half empty, but Sykes took the near miss as a near win. Rather than be an also ran he came back with a point to prove; and he did.
 
Then there is the matter of injury. Like any other elite class of athlete, professional racers are rarely fully healthy due to their training regimen. When a malaise is serious enough to warrant headlines then it is a sure sign that a rider has done themselves a great disservice. When it is bad enough that a rider of Sykes' caliber is forced to miss the first practice of the season, on the first track of the season, well let's just say that is must be some injury. Sykes returned to action by race 1 at Phillip Island, but a pair of 5th place finishes as far back as 11 seconds behind the leader left his recovering body with a lot of ground to cover.
 
Cover it he did, though. With more than a month layover to round two, Sykes found himself back on the podium in race 2 after a disappointing DNF and by Assen he had his first win. Two more podiums at Monza preceded his first double at his home race - Donnington Park. Sykes would suffer further misfortune through the season, but it was his ability to dominate a weekend that made the difference in point. Donnington was followed by another double in Imola for round 7, then again for round 13 at Magny Cours. Every rider can suffer setbacks during a season, but few can bounce back and be as dominant as Sykes managed to be week in and week out. By the end of 2013 Sykes hadn't beaten the field into submission. What he did, though, was put himself in a position to cruise - as much as one can aboard the Rocketship ZX10R - to a championship in the last races.
 
For racing hard when he needed to and being smart enough to dial it back when necessary, Sykes gets the nod for Rider of the Year 2013.

Honorable Mention - Roger Hayden (USA)
 
It's not easy to step onto the world stage and make a dent. Aprilia, Kawasaki and BMW all had heavy factory involvement in the sport, making the top 6 places already heavily contested. Add in well funded satellite teams and a wealth of talent, and it becomes clear that breaking into the top 10 is no easy task. Yet this is exactly what Roger Hayden did for race 2 at Laguna Seca.
 
To put Hayden's accomplishment into perspective, we can look at the performance of WSBK stand-in Toni Elias who replaced Michelle Fabrizio aboard the Red Devils satellite Aprilia. The Aprilia was a proven podium capable bike, and Elias is an experienced racer with GP credentials. Yet even Elias was held to just inside the top 10 for most of his time aboard the RSV4 in 2013, his highest finish coming at the season closer where he finished fourth.
 
In comparison, Hayden entered the Laguna Seca wildcard relatively unknown to the international scene. Worst still, his steed for the day was an admittedly under-prepped AMA motorcycle. While Hayden would succumb to one of the many restarts of race 1 and suspected debris on track, he fought back in race 2 to finish in 8th place.
 
For a solid top 10 against some of the best in the world, despite "an obvious equipment disadvantage", we say congrats to the youngest of the Haydens.