Donington BSB: Sykes doubles up for race two

Tom Sykes made it two Bennetts British Superbike victories from two at Donington Park when he claimed the opening race win on Sunday afternoon.

The MCE Ducati rider took the lead from Bradley Ray (Rich Energy OMG Yamaha) on lap three and eventually took a 1.4s win with Ray’s second place seeing him extend his championship lead to 55 points. Glenn Irwin took third for Honda Racing. Ray got the holeshot from Andrew Irwin (Synetiq BMW) with Sykes dropping back to fourth and having to take the outside line around Redgate. The bunching up further back in the pack though saw Leon Haslam (VisionTrack Kawasaki) crash out, tumbling through the gravel trap. Sykes was up to second by the end of the lay with Ray leading by 0.266s with Andrew Irwin in third ahead of Peter Hickman (FHO BMW), Glenn Irwin and Lee Jackson (Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Kawasaki) with pole sitter Jason O’Halloran back in seventh on the McAMS Yamaha. The top three remained the same next time around with Glenn Irwin overhauling Hickman but going into Redgate at the start of lap three, Sykes took his chance and slipped up the inside to hit the front for the first time. Sykes and Ray had more than a second advantage over the two Irwins with Hickman right in their wheel tracks. There was then a slight gap to the next group which was headed by Jackson from Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Ducati) and O’Halloran. A new lap record on lap five by Sykes, 1’28.888, saw him open up a near half second lead with Andrew Irwin a further second back in third quickly followed by Hickman, Jackson, Bridewell and O’Halloran. Sykes added another tenth of a second to his lead on lap seven and both he and Ray were edging away from the battle for third which was briefly headed by Glenn