He may have just missed out on the World Superbike title by a mere half point, but Tom Sykes has reeled off a resounding victory in
Crash.net's WSBK Rider of the Year poll, as determined by you.
A breakthrough season for both Sykes and Kawasaki, his achievements of four wins, nine pole positions and 13 podiums have been recognised with an outstanding average score of 9.59 out of 10.
It was enough to put him well ahead of the man that beat him to the 2012 trophy, Max Biaggi, the newly-retired Italian missing out on your top spot again having also finished second in your vote to Leon Haslam during his 2010 title winning year.
Behind them, Marco Melandri recorded third, albeit only marginally ahead of Chaz Davies, the Welshman getting to within 0.06 of overhauling his new team-mate at BMW. Similarly close were Sylvain Guintoli and Jonathan Rea, the Frenchman pipping the Honda rider by just 0.01 points.
Further back, Davide Giugliano just missed out on the top ten, as did Haslam in 12th and
Michel Fabrizio in 13th, while ex-MotoGP riders John Hopkins (winner of the 2011
BSB Rider of the Year poll) and Hiroshi Aoyama finished bottom of the pile for 2012.
2012 WSBK Rider of the Year: Full Results
1. Tom Sykes GBR
Kawasaki Racing 9.59
2. Max Biaggi ITA
Aprilia Racing 8.14
3. Marco Melandri ITA
BMW Motorrad 7.76
4. Chaz Davies GBR
ParkinGO MTC Aprilia 7.70