Tom Sykes will look strike a double blow in his ‘home’ meeting at Donington Park as he aims to climb back to the top of the World Superbikes Championship rankings.
The Huddersfield racer secured a third place finish in race one at Imola and added a fifth place in race two, but he is now second in the standings after Jonathan Rea’s Italian ‘double’ on the Pata Honda took him four points clear after four rounds.
However, it was last year’s ‘home’ leg that put Sykes on his way to the 2013 world title as the 28-year-old won both races at the East Midlands circuit.
“We can move on now as we have some good circuits coming up for us,” said Sykes, as he set his sights on round five on Sunday, May 25.
“There is no question that we missed some of our true performance and we were not quite on the money at Imola.
“I do not think we realised that the gap was as big as it proved to be.
“In each race we had some limitations and unfortunately at this level you cannot ride around them and make a good result. We will learn from this, that is for sure.
“It has not been the easiest weekend but you cannot have a perfect weekend every time.”
In the first 19-lap race at the 4.936km long Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit Sykes was a clear third, taking his fifth podium of the season in the process.
Sykes was unable to push as he felt he could, however, especially in the later part of the second race and after seeing a safe opportunity to pass his KRT teammate Loris Baz swept past and held onto his narrow advantage to take fourth place for the second time.
The championship is a tight affair now after four rounds and eight individual races, with Sykes second on 135 points.
World Superbike Championship, Imola – race one: 1 Jonathan Rea (Gbr) Honda 34mins 14.829secs, 2 Chaz Davies (Gbr) Ducati 34:19.340, 3 Tom Sykes (Gbr) Kawasaki 34:21.321, 4 Loris Baz (Fra) Kawasaki 34:23.263, 5 Sylvain Guintoli (Fra) Aprilia 34:23.963, 6 Marco Melandri (Ita) Aprilia 34:29.754, 7 Eugene Laverty (Gbr) Suzuki 34:34.802, 8 Alex Lowes (Gbr) Suzuki 34:36.411, 9 Toni Elias (Spa) Aprilia 34:43.610, 10 Leon Haslam (Gbr) Honda 34:46.074
Race two: 1 Jonathan Rea (Gbr) Honda 34mins 14.255secs, 2 Chaz Davies (Gbr) Ducati 34:18.350, 3 Sylvain Guintoli (Fra) Aprilia 34:19.801, 4 Loris Baz (Fra) Kawasaki 34:20.540, 5 Tom Sykes (Gbr) Kawasaki 34:21.402, 6 Davide Giugliano (Ita) Ducati 34:36.309, 7 Toni Elias (Spa) Aprilia 34:40.066, 8 Leon Haslam (Gbr) Honda 34:40.382, 9 Eugene Laverty (Gbr) Suzuki 34:40.561, 10 Alex Lowes (Gbr) Suzuki 34:47.301.
Leading championship standings: 1 Jonathan Rea (Gbr) Honda 139pts, 2 Tom Sykes (Gbr) Kawasaki 135, 3 Sylvain Guintoli (Fra) Aprilia 123, 4 Loris Baz (Fra) Kawasaki 119, 5 Chaz Davies (Gbr) Ducati 87, 6 Marco Melandri (Ita) Aprilia 84, 7 Davide Giugliano (Ita) Ducati 69, 8 Eugene Laverty (Gbr) Suzuki 62, 9 Leon Haslam (Gbr) Honda 58, 10 Alex Lowes (Gbr) Suzuki 50.
Team championship standings: 1 Kawasaki 143pts, 2 Honda 139, 3 Aprilia 133, 4 Ducati 113, 5 Suzuki 92, 6 BMW 26, 7 MV Augusta 5,
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