HUDDERSFIELD’S Tom Sykes stormed to his first win of the World Superbike season at Monza and then revealed an unlikely source of inspiration – Elvis Presley.

The 26-year-old has been in hot form in the first three rounds of the season – qualifying on pole at every one and climbing the podium three times.

However, while he had to settle for second on the grid in round four, the Kawasaki Racing Team rider finished on the top step of the podium on a controversial day in Italy.

Race one started in dry conditions but was first stopped after a string of crashes, none involving Sykes, and was then cancelled on safety grounds.

In race two Sykes opened up a near ten second lead before rain fell and ended proceedings after eight of the 16 laps.

Sykes was given victory but only half the points – preventing him taking the lead in the championship but not from being upbeat after an Elvis-inspired ride.

“This was my second win for Kawasaki but my first this year and it was nice to get that one under the belt,” said Sykes – who sits third in the overall standings with 91.5points.

“It is a shame that I only got half points, but we put on a good show and I hope I put on a good show for the Italian fans.

“This was my first podium at Monza, so that was good and the Ninja ZX-10R was working well throughout the weekend.

“I had a great start to the second race, felt good on the bike and got myself into the lead and as Elvis once said, ‘It’s now or never’.

“We went for it and every lap the bike was getting better and I was confident we could do a good race distance.”

Sykes now sits four points behind second-placed Carlos Checa and six off leader Max Biaggi.

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