Italian Max Biaggi won the Superbike World Championship in France.

The closest ever finish in the history of the Superbike World Championship took place at Magny-Cours overnight when Italian Max Biaggi ended the season just half a point ahead of Briton Tom Sykes.

The French crowd witnessed a belter, as a series which had already been high on drama took yet more twists and turns, with Kawasaki-backed Sykes nearly pulling off a massive heist with his third and first place finishes, compared to a DNF and fifth place for Biaggi (Aprilia).

But Biaggi’s finishing position in race two was just enough to hold off his rival, in what was a second WSBK title – and sixth overall in world championship competition – for the indefatigable 41-year-old.

“This is the fourth world championship out of six that I’ve won in the last race. I guess I must like a difficult challenge!” said Biaggi.

“The 2012 season was tight to say the least: we started off well winning at Phillip Island after completely revamping my team, but we also had some difficult moments. We definitely worked for the title and maybe that’s why it’s an even sweeter victory.

“I’d like to thank the Team, Aprilia and Piaggio Group, from president Colaninno to the last worker because my success is just the tip of a great Italian company’s work. I would also like to thank my family, my girlfriend Eleonora and my two children.”

Meanwhile, Sykes was philosophical about just falling short of the ultimate.

“We were on pole, took a new circuit record, got a podium and then a win and pulled back 30pts on Max Biaggi. Not easy against a rider of his level,” said Sykes.

“Yes, obviously there is a massive disappointment on one hand because we were only half a point from the world championship. But on the other hand, being realistic, we are very happy and we have — by far — overachieved on expectations this year.

“We have been very strong and I think this weekend we have been particularly strong; hopefully next year we can be very consistent from the start.”

Race one at Magny-Cours was held on a wet track, and the narrative for the rest of the day was set on lap three when Biaggi crashed under braking, with his bike too badly damaged for a return to action.

Sykes, the polesitter, led at that point, but he was eventually overtaken by Honda’s Jonathan Rea, who was seemingly en route to an empathic victory before he too became another casualty of the slick track.

That again left Sykes out in front, and a victory would have seen him start race just 5.5pts behind Biaggi – until charging duo Marco Melandri (BMW) and Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati) arrived on the scene and quickly swallowed up the Kawasaki rider.

Guintoli, the British-based Frenchman, won his third race of the season in a canter ahead of Melandri – who also kept his faint championship hopes alive – Sykes, Maxime Berger (Ducati) and Leon Haslam (BMW).

That set the scene for race two, with Sykes 14.5pts behind Biaggi, and Melandri 18.5.

The track had mostly dried out, but was still damp in places. Sykes’ blow was telling in the 23-lapper: he led the whole way to record his fourth win of the year ahead of Rea and Guintoli, while Melandri crashed out on lap six.

So that left Biaggi to complete the puzzle, and it wasn’t until lap 15 that he moved into fifth place, which was enough to ensure championship success – albeit by the smallest margin in WSBK since the title’s inception in 1988.

Biaggi is the eighth rider to have won multiple WSBK titles, joining Fred Merkel, Doug Polen, Carl Fogarty, Colin Edwards, James Toseland, and Aussies Troy Corser and Troy Bayliss.

World Supersport was another wet one, with Frenchman Jules Cluzel (Honda) scoring an impressive victory in front of him home crowd ahead of Sam Lowes (Honda), Dan Linfoot (Kawasaki) and 2012 world champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki).

Jed Metcher (Yamaha) was the leading Aussie in 10th, while Broc Parkes (Honda) had to pit for a change of tyres and finished a lowly 27th. Parkes was fifth in the final standings, and Metcher 14th.

Newly-crowned Australian Supersport Champion Mitchell Carr made his World Supersport debut in France, riding a Honda for the Benjan Racing team. Carr qualified 29th for the weekend, before improving by five positions to 24th on debut in the race.

Australia’s Bryan Staring (Kawasaki) crashed on lap two of the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup in the wet conditions, which put paid to his faint championship hopes. Staring remounted and eventually finished fifth, in a race won by Jeremy Guarnoni (Kawasaki) ahead of new champion and fellow Frenchman Sylvain Barrier (BMW).

Staring concluded the series fourth, just one point shy of a top three in the series due to Guarnoni’s final round result.

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