British rider Tom Sykes has re-signed with the official Kawasaki Racing Team in the Superbike World Championships for next season, continuing a positive mutual relationship that has already delivered SBK race wins and many other measurable successes.

Sykes has been a Kawasaki rider since 2010 and has enjoyed the part he has played in helping turn the awesome Ninja ZX-10R streetbike into a winner at the highest level of production-derived racing.

Before the Moscow Raceway weekend, Sykes had taken a race win at Monza, eight podiums in total and seven Superpole successes in qualifying.

The deal to retain Sykes as a key member of the Kawasaki Racing Team is for one year, with an option of two further years.

Sykes is currently third in the championship and is still well in contention to go for the title itself if results fall in his favour during the rest of the 2012 season, which finishes in October at Magny-Cours in France.

“It has been fantastic to make a commitment quite early in the season,” said Sykes.

“It’s great to be on the good end of the silly season because that is a weight off my shoulders and I think I have proved my worth this year. Last year did not reflect my potential, I do not feel, but this year I was able to demonstrate what I believe I can do.

“Obviously Kawasaki has done an absolutely fantastic job, an outstanding amount of work and put in so much effort. Everybody can see what we have done this year. I have a fantastic bunch of guys working with me, all my guys in the garage. It is a good team effort, well managed, very professional and I could not ask for any more. That is another reason why I really pushed to stay with Kawasaki. It is a factory team with direct input from KHI, so there are lots of pros for me deciding to stay.

“This is my third year with Kawasaki and we have had so much bad luck that, despite still being third in the points, we could even have been a couple of places higher at this stage.

“It is my goal to be World Superbike Champion and I feel we can achieve that sooner or later. We have done so much hard work this year I would not want to miss out on the benefits of all that next year. For sure we can be stronger and we are learning all the time, so we have not seen the full potential of the bike and myself yet. Working directly with the factory I have 100% faith in the technicians back in Japan. When I have been there a couple of times they have been very welcoming and supportive.

“They fully trust my feedback and the direction I want to go in. For me, that is priceless and makes me feel even more comfortable. To continue that relationship is a key in being able to fight for the championship.”