MCE Ducati’s Tom Sykes was back in the mix after a challenging Bennetts British Superbike visit to Thruxton at the weekend. Ninth in Saturday’s eBay sprint race was backed up by another top ten in Sunday’s final feature after the Yorkshireman slipped just adrift, in twelfth, for the morning contest.
Having initially had a strong Friday, despite not visiting the Hampshire track for almost a decade and a half, Sykes gained direct entry to Q2 with the fourth fastest practice time before completing qualifying 14th overall.
Progressing through the pack in the punishing heat of the afternoon’s 15-lap race, the 36-year-old was just a quarter of a second behind fellow ex-WorldSBK rider Leon Haslam at the flag in the battle for eighth.
Sunday proved just as challenging as Sykes lined up from eighth on the grid, launching to fifth by the close of lap one before slipping back to seventh by half-race-distance.