Top Ten For Sykes At Thruxton
Punishing heat greeted the MCE Ducati team at Thruxton, venue for round six of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, but although both Tom Sykes and Josh Brookes found themselves with plenty of work to do, Sykes gave the team a top ten finish in today’s opening eBay Sprint Race with a solid ninth place.
It was Sykes who had the strongest day on Friday with the fourth fastest time sealing him a direct entry to Q2 but although he improved his time in this afternoon’s qualifying session by a tenth of a second, a number of other riders improved by a greater margin and the 2013 World Superbike Champion found himself back in 14th for the 15-lap race.
With an air temperature of 33 degrees and a track temperature of almost 44 degrees, the race was going to be challenging affair, but the Huddersfield rider made a good start and immediately moved forward three places. Second time around, he moved up inside the top ten and although progress after that was limited, he only just missed out on eighth place at the chequered flag.
Crucially, he also set the eighth fastest lap of the race which will see him start tomorrow’s opening race, held over the longer distance of 20 laps, from six places and two rows further forward.
For teammate Brookes, it’s been a tough weekend to date and, just like 2021, he’s suffered with a lack of grip on the MCE Insurance-sponsored and factory-supported Ducati Panigale V4R. Unable to lap at the pace required, both he and the team have worked tirelessly over the first two days and after qualifying in a disappointing 26th place, he was only able to take 20th at the chequered flag.
Tom Sykes: “It’s been 14 years since I’ve raced at Thruxton but practice on Friday went to plan, and everything immediately fell into place on the MCE Ducati. Expectations were a lot higher but the clear limitations we’re working under haven’t gone away and, unfortunately, qualifying saw me fall back down the order. That made today’s race that bit harder, but I was able to move forward and gain a few places which will put me two rows higher up for tomorrow’s first race. Hopefully, we can improve again tomorrow and get a result I feel we deserve.”
Josh Brookes: “After the problems I had at Thruxton last year, it’s the round I’ve been looking forward to the least but after good progress shown at Donington, Knockhill and Brands, I was holding onto that hope and that trend continuing when we got underway. It was clear straightaway though that the same problems existed, and it doesn’t matter what we try, I’m still suffering with a major lack of grip. No matter what we change, we don’t go forward, we just stay stagnant which is incredibly frustrating. You want to scream and throw things but that doesn’t change anything so it’s a question of staying composed and professional and just keep trying as hard as you can.”
Johnny Mowatt, Team Co-Ordinator: “Tom’s made good progress this weekend and although the qualifying position didn’t reflect that, he was able to lap consistently and moved forward throughout the race. He only just missed out on eighth and whilst we know the issues he’s been experiencing haven’t gone away, the nature of the circuit puts us in a better position. Unfortunately for Josh, he’s suffering the same issues as 2021 with a lack of grip preventing him from steering the bike. With a different engine spec from last year, we were obviously hoping for a lot better so all we can do is keep working hard to try and turn it around tomorrow.”
Bennetts British Superbike Championship Sprint race (15 laps)
1 Jason O’Halloran (Yamaha)
2 Tarran Mackenzie (Yamaha)
3 Bradley Ray (Yamaha)
4 Glenn Irwin (Honda)
5 Peter Hickman (BMW)
6 Lee Jackson (Kawasaki)
9 Tom Sykes (MCE Ducati)
20 Josh Brookes (MCE Ducati)
Championship standings
1 O’Halloran 290pts
2 Ray 271
3 Jackson 197
4 Skinner 181
5 Ryde 175
6 Irwin 169
12 Brookes 87
14 Sykes 65
Images courtesy of Double Red: Josh Brookes (25) and Tom Sykes (66)
