Sykes Wins Again At Donington But Denied Treble Victory
Tom Sykes and the MCE Ducati team added another Bennetts British Superbike Championship win to their collection at Donington Park today with victory in the opening race following swiftly on from the inaugural success for Paul Bird’s Cumbrian-based team yesterday. But hopes of a career first treble win were scuppered when he was the innocent victim of a collision in the third and final race.
Sykes’ first victory of the season yesterday on the factory-backed MCE Insurance Ducati Panigale V4R put him on the front row for the opening 20-lap race today whilst teammate Josh Brookes had a lot more work to do from the fifth row of the grid.
A sluggish start saw Sykes drop back to fourth going into the first corner but by the end of the lap, he was into second and on lap three he hit the front for the first time, slipping up the inside of race and championship leader Bradley Ray. The two remained close for the rest of the race, with Tom’s lead hovering around the half second mark.
However, in the final four laps, he began to edge away and, aided by a new lap record, the Yorkshireman took his second win of the weekend by 1.4 seconds once more. Brookes, meanwhile, gained two places on the opening lap and on lap three he moved up another place to 11th. Locked in battle with Danny Buchan and Ryan Vickers, the 2015 and 2020 BSB champion overhauled both riders to take over ninth place which is where he finished.
Starting the final race of the weekend from pole position, both Tom and the team were hopeful of completing the treble but a red flag on just the second lap brought a halt to proceedings. Restarted over 18 laps, the 2013 World Superbike champion was running in third place when another rider collided with him going into the Melbourne Hairpin on the sixth lap and although he stayed on, damage to the bike forced him to retire.
Teammate Brookes made a good getaway in the first start and was up to eighth, but the restart didn’t go in the same way. Changes to the bike after the race earlier in the day didn’t work as he planned and after holding 13th in the early stages, he dropped back as the race progressed and just missed out on the points in 16th.
Tom Sykes: “It’s been great to take another race win today and I’m more pleased for the team than I am myself as they’ve not stopped working all year and deserve the success. I was in third place in the initial stages of today’s first race, but the bike was fantastic and once I’d got the lead, I felt really comfortable and was able to control the race very nicely. We made some small alterations to the bike, nothing major, but with the red flag, the performance with edge grip on the tyre dropped off. I still thought a good podium was on the cards but, unfortunately, another rider made a mistake and hit the back of me, which was obviously not their intention. It’s a shame to end with a DNF but we’ve got to be happy with two wins and have some smiles back in the garage.”
Josh Brookes: “We made some minimal changes to the bike overnight with ninth place the outcome and I ended up letting the team take responsibility for what we did in race three to try and get us further up the field. Unfortunately, the changes, which were quite substantial, were in the wrong direction and whilst the intentions were good to make the bike shorter to try and improve the rear grip, they were counterproductive. The more I tried, the more it felt like I was going to come off, so it was another difficult day at the office.”
Johnny Mowatt, Team Co-ordinator: “All in all, it’s been a very good weekend and with two wins, it’s been great to see the PBM MCE Ducati team back on the winner’s step. It was good to back up Saturday’s victory with another win and it was another, controlled ride from Tom. We were hopeful of making it a treble, but the restart didn’t work out for us with the drop in tyre performance, but a podium finish was a strong possibility. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be as Tom was hit from behind by another rider with damage to the bike making it impossible to continue. Josh had a tough day, and it won’t have been easy for him to have seen his teammate take two wins, but he’ll evaluate everything with his team and look to end the year strongly at Brands Hatch, a circuit that’s been good for him in the past.”
Bennetts British Superbike Championship race two (19 laps)
1 Tom Sykes (MCE Ducati)
2 Bradley Ray (Yamaha)
3 Glenn Irwin (Honda)
4 Andrew Irwin (BMW)
5 Lee Jackson (Kawasaki)
6 Tommy Bridewell (Ducati)
9 Josh Brookes (MCE Ducati)
Bennetts British Superbike Championship race three (18 laps)
1 Bradley Ray (Yamaha)
2 Andrew Irwin (BMW)
3 Glenn Irwin (Honda)
4 Tommy Bridewell (Ducati)
5 Danny Buchan (BMW)
6 Kyle Ryde (Yamaha)
16 Josh Brookes (MCE Ducati)
DNF Tom Sykes (MCE Ducati)
Championship Standings (after 10 rounds)
1 Ray 1171pts
2 Irwin 1105
3 Bridewell 1104
4 Jackson 1095
5 O’Halloran 1077
6 Ryde 1051
12 Sykes 170
13 Brookes 145
Pictures courtesy of Double Red: Josh Brookes (25) and Tom Sykes (66).
