Tom Sykes has been knocked off the top of the World Superbike standings after third and fifth place finishes at Imola yesterday.

The Huddersfield reigning champion has fallen behind pole-setter Jonathan Rea, who dominated both races for a double win which took him to 139 points for the season, four ahead of Sykes heading to Donington for the next round in a couple of weeks.

Northern Irishman Rea said: “It’s been a great weekend.

“I knew from race one that we had really good pace but it’s hard to get excited when you’ve got to get a job done.

“I would like to thank my crew. They gave me a great bike.

“Now it’s Donington which I really enjoy as my home track. Hopefully we can keep the ball rolling.”

Rea has now had three successive wins to take the championship lead from Sykes, who appeared hampered by tyre problems in the closing stages of race two, when he was overtaken by Kawasaki teammate Loris Baz to cross the line fifth, over seven seconds behind the winner.

He had been running in fourth for the first half of the race and moved up to third before then losing places.

From the start of race one, it was Rae– who has had five podiums and three wins in eight races – who took control.

The Pata Honda World Superbike Team man led the way ahead of the Aprilia Racing Team duo of Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli.

Chaz Davies (Ducati Racing Team) moved up to second at the end of lap one and as the laps progressed a number of riders in the leading group would run off track in their efforts to keep up with the flying British duo at the front.

By half distance Rea had moved clear of the chasing pack with a lead of almost two seconds. Behind the leader a four-rider fight involving Davies, Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), Guintoli who had worked hard to bridge the gap after an off track excursion at the chicane on lap 2, Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) became more intense with every corner.

Giugliano slid out of contention on the 12th lap, the Italian clearly annoyed as the front end of his Ducati went away from him.

At the flag and after 19 exciting laps it was Rea who took the flag ahead of Davies and Sykes.

Rea took race two ahead of Davies, Guintoli Baz and then Sykes.

In the EVO battle, Leon Camier (BMW Motorrad Italia) came out on top, finishing comfortably ahead of David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Luca Scassa (Team Pedercini Kawasaki). Ivan Goi (Barni Racing Team) and Niccolo Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati) crashed without injury.

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