Huddersfield racer Tom Sykes held off the challenge of Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies to take victory in race two of the Superbike World Championship meeting at Laguna Seca.
The Kawasaki Racing Team rider made up some ground on championship leader Jonathan Rea, who crashed early in the race.
The 30-year-old, who claimed his 37th career Superpole at the Califormian circuit, lies second on 322 points and trails KRT colleague Rea by 46.
The second race took its toll with Michael van der Mark was an early casualty when he lost control of his Honda and was forced to rejoin the race down the field.
Leon Camier and Alex De Angelis were then forced to retire from the race following technical problems.
Giugliano edged ahead of Sykes but a fall for Pawel Szkopek brought out the red flag to halt the race and the restarted race was scheduled for 21 laps with Giugliano sitting on pole.
Lorenzo Savadori crashed out early in the restart and Rea became a high-profile casualty when he went wide at turn six and ran on and was forced to stop shortly after with a technical issue.
A three-way fight for the victory ensued but Sykes remained cool under pressure from the two Ducatis to hold on for victory.
Alex Lowes and Niccolo Canepa crashed out as they battled for fourth, leaving Xavi Fores to come home behind Davies, with Nicky Hayden fifth and Jordi Torres sixth.
Van der Mark staged a superb comeback to finish seventh ahead of Canepa who got back on his bike following the late spill.
It was a welcome win for 2013 world champion Sykes, who said: “It was quite exciting and I had a lot of pressure from the Ducati riders all race long.
“We struggled with grip, so I had to change my style a little to defend my line – it destroyed the lap time but gave us the 25 points.
“Overall, it was good race for the spectators and a close one between three riders and I am happy enough but it was a difficult race in some ways.
“The restart was one more thing to think about and we made some changes, making the best of the situation.”
Round 10 of the 13 meeting season will be held at Germany’s Lausitzring between September 16-18.
Sykes is hoping that further work on his Ninja ZX-10R can bring a strong end to the campaign.
“We never had the perfect set-up but I feel we made a good compromise,” added Sykes.
“We have had a good weekend, with pole position, a second place and a win and we will go into the summer break on a high and try to learn from the information we took from the previous Misano round and this one, and then try to put the jigsaw together for the last part of the season.”
Race 2: 1 Tom Sykes (Gbr) Kawasaki 29mins 35.285secs, 2 Davide Giugliano (Ita) Ducati 29:35.494, 3 Chaz Davies (Gbr) Ducati 29:36.071, 4 Xavi Fores (Spa) Ducati 29:46.664, 5 Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 29:47.504, 6 Jordi Torres (Spa) BMW 29:47.750, 7 Michael van der Mark (Ned) Honda 29:48.990, 8 Niccolo Canepa (Ita) Yamaha 29:55.734, 9 Anthony West (Aus) Kawasaki 30:04.438, 10 Roman Ramos (Spa) Kawasaki 30:08.298.
Leading World Championship standings: 1st Jonathan Rea (Gbr) Kawasaki 368pts, 2nd Tom Sykes (Gbr) Kawasaki 322, 3rd Chaz Davies (Gbr) Ducati 260, 4th Davide Giugliano (Ita) Ducati 185, 5th Michael van der Mark (Ned) Honda 185, 6th Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 173, 7th Jordi Torres (Spa) BMW 155, 8th Leon Camier (Gbr) MV Augusta 110, 9th Lorenzo Savadori (Ita) Aprilia 110, 10 Xavi Fores (Esp) Ducati 97
