Huddersfield racer Tom Sykes has set his sights on ensuring a top two finish in the World Superbikes Championship for the fourth consecutive year.
Three rounds remain and the 2013 world champion is determined to pip Ducati rider Chaz Davies for second place in the standings.
Sykes – who was second to Max Biaggi in 2012, champion the following year and runner-up to Sylvain Guintoli last season – trails Welshman Davies by just 13 points with visits to Jerez, Magny-Cours and Doha to come.
The 30-year-old, whose Kawasaki Racing Team colleague Jonathan Rae could confirm his 2015 World Superbikes Championship victory in Spain as he heads second place Davies by 94 points, said: “The target is of course to win some races and why not?
“Second place in the standings would be good. This would mean I would have finished in the top two for the fourth year in a row and that is definitely not something to be embarrassed about.
“When you’re at the top of your game, you always want to win.”
Sykes was one of the many World Superbike riders to attend last weekend’s OCTO British MotoGP at Silverstone and he is looking forward to a return to track action when the World Superbike series resumes on September 18-20 at Jerez.
“I am having a good break, I now have two daughters in my life, so it’s been fun and busy,” said Sykes. “But I do want to get back on the bike again and put some poor results behind me.
“We have had fantastic speed, there is no doubt about that, but we just need to find a set-up that suits my riding style better.
“This is why MotoGP is interesting for me. It is a race series with a lot of opportunity to adjust the chassis to the tyres and conditions. It would be interesting to try.”
After a difficult round in Malaysia at Round 10 last month, Sykes’ 2015 title hopes faded once and for all and Sykes added: “The title is definitely gone.
“I think Jonathan can stay at home and drink some tea for the remaining races – he is in a very fortunate position.
“But we need to use the last three remaining rounds as a testing programme for next year in order to try and make our life easier.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough testing time during the year to solve our problems and it is difficult to do so during the racing weekends.”
World Superbikes standings: 1st Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) 452 points, 2nd Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Ducati) 308, 3rd Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) 295, 4th Leon Haslam (Aprilia Red Devils) 259, 5th Jordi Torres (Aprilia Red Devils) 186, 6the Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda) 162, 7th Mark Van Der Mark (Pata Honda) 125, 8th Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Ducati) 119, 9th Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) 112, 10th Matteo Baiocco (Althea Ducati) 107.
