Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes headed to the Aragon round with extremely high hopes (after testing extensively at Aragon) after scoring his first pole position of the season, but his hopes in race 1 were dashed after just three laps as his ZX-10R suffered a technical issue, forcing him to retire from the race after he had gained the lead from gremlin suffering Eugene Laverty.
Race 2 saw the British rider stand on the lower podium but he compromised his race during lap two with an error that dropped him back and unable to catch Laverty and Guintoli.
“Scoring a podium in race two was not a perfect way to end race weekend but it was certainly an acceptable way,” said Sykes.
“It would have been good to finish race one as well just so that I could have collected a bit more information to take into race two, but I am not making excuses – the riders ahead of me in race two rode fantastically well.
We are now moving onto circuits where we are a little bit stronger than here.
I am also riding uninjured now and Kawasaki has been working really hard so let’s see what Assen can bring next time out.
” Loris Baz error on the starting grid in race 2 and punished with a pitlane start, hampered his race, but he also showed massive determination in overcoming his problems with a charge down the field to, and off track excursione and then end up fighting with Jules Cluzel for sixth place.
“Race one was good but I missed the start a little and I think if I made a better start I could have been with some of the guys up front.
I had to fight to pass other riders and we knew that race distance was going to be hard.
We did a big step in setting a fast lap time in testing and I think we can fight for the top four or five places that way, but we maybe still need to find some more for full race distance.
But I was happy finishing fifth in the first race, although I would have been P6 without another rider stopping.
Race one showed the hard work we have done is paying off.
Race two I went on the grid then they delayed the race so I stopped my engine because normally that is what we do in that situation.
They said I could not do that, so I had to start from pitlane with Jules Cluzel.
I am not sure if I could have got higher than P6 in the final result if I started like normal but at least I would have been able to see how long I could have run with some other guys.
We had two good points scoring finishes in dry conditions so I am happy,” said Baz.
