Source: Supplied.

Fresh from claiming his eighth-straight World Superbike race victory at Donington Park, Kawasaki Racing Team surprised Tom Sykes with the presentation of his 2013 title-winning ZX-10R on Sunday.

In the season where Sykes and the Ninja took 18 podium places including nine race wins and eight Superpoles, the Yorkshireman amassed an unassailable 447 points on a machine which could trace its roots back to 2011.

“Wow, what a fantastic surprise, this really is the icing on the cake of an amazing weekend,” Sykes said. There has been a lot of hard work put into this bike by countless people and companies. I feel honoured to now be trusted to look after her. I am not sure if my wife Amie will allow me to keep the bike in the house, but let’s see shall we!”

Developed into a championship-winning machine thanks to KHI, KRT and the many technical sponsor partners of the racing project, the final part of the jig-saw was the formidable partnership between Sykes and crew chief Marcel Duinker.

Together the duo not only created the platform for success, but laid the foundations for the machine which now stands as the current Superbike benchmark, the 2016 Ninja ZX-10R.

“On behalf of KHI, KRT and the many technical sponsors who were part of creating this historic machine we were delighted to pass this title winner over to Tom in recognition of not just his amazing 2013 championship season, but also his ongoing commitment and success on Kawasaki Ninja machinery,” explained as Biel Roda of KRT.

Previously on display at various shows and events across Europe and then in secure storage at the KRT workshops in Barcelona, the UK round of WorldSBK was seen as the most fitting location for the presentation.