HUDDERSFIELD’S Tom Sykes was left to rue what might have been after an incident with German Max Neukirchner cut his World Superbike round nine in Brno short.

The 24-year-old Kawasaki Racing rider looked to have made great strides during qualifying at the Czech Republic circuit after finishing qualifying 12th on the grid.

That seemed to continue 24 hours later at the start of race day with Sykes battling the elements and his bike to improve one place to 11th during race one.

However, all Sykes’ hard work was undone barely after race two had started with the Huddersfield ace thrown off on the first corner thanks to Neukirchner.

Sykes – who sits 16th in the overall standings with 48 points – was adamant he could have broken into the top ten but admitted he will now never know.

“On the whole it was a pretty disappointing end,” said Sykes. “I knew we started off quite slow but qualifying was decent.

“We tried a few things during the warm-up on race day and got a bit better balance with the bike.

“We then had an 11th in race one which was nothing special as we had a few struggles which the boys managed to put right for race two.

“They deserve a big thanks for that but then in race two, when the bike felt very strong and I got a good start, unfortunately there was a bit of an incident on the first lap.

“That spoilt the weekend because I was looking forward to a strong ride as many people dropped out so I think I could have finished eighth or ninth.”

World Superbike Championship races will be broadcast on Eurosport, with the European rounds available in High Definition. Eurosport Sky 410 & Virgin Media 521. Eurosport HD is on Sky 412 and Virgin Media 522.