Stobart Vent Axia Motorsport rider Tom Sykes salvaged some pride from a disappointing weekend when round three of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship took place at Silverstone today. Riding the VK backed Honda Fireblade, the 21 year old Huddersfield rider followed up a seventh place in race one with a sixth place in race two which was red flagged a few laps early due to an oil spillage.
Starting from row three of the grid, Sykes battled with a number of riders for the middle leaderboard placings as he added two more solid points scoring rides to his tally in his debut Superbike season to leave the Northamptonshire track in sixth position in the Championship.
For team mate Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne, Silverstone promised much but delivered little as he left by not adding to his points tally after crashing out in both races.
Starting from the front row of the grid, Byrne was hoping to add to his podium that he secured in the last round at Thruxton but slid out in race one before clipping the back of rival Leon Haslam in race two to end his chances for the weekend.
As a result of two non finishes, Byrne has slipped back to eighth position in the Championship and will be looking to make amends next weekend at Oulton Park.
Tom Sykes:“It’s a reasonable result for the weekend for me. I got a good start in the second race, but got held up a bit on the first lap but I’ve shown I can run consistent times and I’ve got some more points on the board. I’m happy with the whole team and really feel we’re making steady progress for sure. It’s just a shame the second race was red flagged as I was catching up and could have been on for a fourth place, but our time will come and it would be nice to repay the team with a podium sometime soon.”
Shane Byrne:“There’s not much I can really say other than I’m extremely disappointed as not finishing races is not on the agenda. We need to move on from here and put this behind us and I need to do some winning to make up for this as the team has worked so hard for me.”
Paul Bird:“Tom continues to go from strength to strength and posted a couple of solid results that we have come to expect of him and I’m delighted with his progress. As for Shakey, these things happen in racing, there’s not a lot I can say, we just need to move onwards and upwards from here and hopefully get back to the sort of success that we are expecting at Oulton Park.”
The next round of the Bennetts British Championship takes place next weekend at Oulton Park, Cheshire over the Bank Holiday weekend (5th to 7th May).
Race 1 Result:1, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 28m49.500s,
2, Jonathan Rea (Honda) +5.800s,
3, Chris Walker (Suzuki) +8.760s,
4, Leon Camier (Honda) +8.847s,
5, Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) +16.073s,
6, Leon Haslam (Ducati) +16.347s,
7, Tom Sykes (Stobart Vent Axia Motorsport Honda) +18.012s,
8, Tommy Hill (Yamaha) +22.181s,
9, Karl Harris (Honda) +26.095s,
10, Michael Rutter (Kawasaki) +28.048s.
Race 2 Result:1, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 18m37.312s,
2, Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) +2.450s,
3, Jonathan Rea (Honda) +11.758s,
4, Chris Walker (Suzuki) +12.597s,
5, Leon Haslam (Ducati) +16.336s,
6, Tom Sykes (Stobart Vent Axia Motorsport Honda) +16.966s,
7, Cal Crutchlow (Suzuki) +17.590s,
8, Tommy Hill (Yamaha) +21.227s,
9, Michael Rutter (Kawasaki) +21.603s,
10, Tommy Bridewell (Suzuki) +31.640s.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship Positions after Round 6:1, Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) 131pts
2, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 99pts
3, Jonathan Rea (Honda) 85pts
4, Leon Camier (Honda) 80pts
5, Leon Haslam (Ducati) 64pts
6, Tom Sykes (Stobart Vent Axia Motorsport Honda) 59pts
7, Chris Walker (Suzuki) 55pts
8, Shane Byrne (Stobart Vent Axia Motorsport Honda) 45pts
9, Michael Rutter (Kawasaki) 41pts
10, Tommy Hill (Yamaha) 37pts
Related Linkswww.stobartmotorsport.com
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