Tom Sykes was taken into the Kawasaki Superbike Racing Team by Paul Bird when Paul Bird Motorsport was running the official Kawasaki effort. Prior to that Sykes had been a factory Yamaha rider and teammate of Ben Spies before he lost his ride at Yamaha. Paul Bird also was instrumental in convincing Kawasaki to keep Sykes for 2011 and Sykes rewarded Kawasaki with a win, the first in six years. PBM has been told that Kawasaki no longer needed its services and Paul Bird has said that even Sykes’ services have been dispensed with. However, Tom Sykes says that it is still possible that he will ride for Kawasaki along with Joan Lascorz next year even though the manufacturer has suggested that the World Superbike Racing team will become more in house. Kawasaki is keeping mum on this. It has supported Chris Vermeulen from the second half of last season and the whole of this season, when the injury that he sustained last year has kept him out of the saddle. It is believed that Vermeulen will no longer be with Kawasaki and he may even be out of racing for a while.