Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes is back ahead in the overall World Superbike Championship standings after claiming a sixth win of the season at the tenth round of 14 at Nurburgring, in Germany, at the weekend.

Having qualified on the front row, Sykes led for the majority of the opening race, but was coming under increasing pressure from behind when Marco Melandri made his charge for the lead at the start of lap 19.

However, when the race was red flagged shortly afterwards, the result was declared at the end of lap 18, when Sykes was still leading. As such, the Kawasaki man was awarded the win on count-back, a timely success that went a long way to bridging the gap to Sylvain Guintoli in the standings.

Though Sykes admits he was slightly lucky with the circumstances given he doesn’t know whether he could have come back at Melandri, he was happy to have a fate go his way.

“It is very difficult to tell if I could have come back at Marco in the last two laps of race one but when he passed me I was preparing to push the pace a bit more. I am sure all three or four of us in the front group were able to improve our lap times right at the end but the decision to stop the race has gone in our favour for a change. I will take the result and I am very happy for the 25 points. It was the first time all weekend we have had a small issue with the bike set-up.”

Coming into race two seeking a similar result, Sykes struggled to stay with the leaders early on, but a determined push to keep Guintoli behind meant his fourth place was good enough for him to squeeze ahead by the slenderest of margins.

“I went to bed last night expecting probably a few more points in race two but it is racing and things like this happen. It seems that we had some limitations in that race, which is a shame because over race distance I was 100% confident in myself, in the Ninja ZX-10R that we could make 1’54 laps even at the end. We proved that through practice this weekend.

“I think we know where we can improve and I am very happy to have the people around me that I have. It was important to keep Sylvain Guintoli behind me in that second race as we saw how every point counts last year. It adds to the end of season points basket and after this weekend we are leading the championship again.”

Results, race one:

1. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 32m 38.184s
2. Marco Melandri ITA BMW GoldBet S1000RR HP4 +0.269s
3. Chaz Davies GBR BMW GoldBet S1000RR HP4 +0.714s
4. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Aprilia Racing RSV4 +6.427s
5. Davide Giugliano ITA Althea Racing RSV4 +8.526s
6. Michel Fabrizio ITA Red Devils Roma RSV4 +13.234s
7. Leon Haslam GBR Pata Honda CBR1000RR +13.818s
8. Jules Cluzel FRA Fixi Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 +18.726s
9. Ayrton Badovini ITA Alstare Ducati 1199 R +21.049s
10. Carlos Checa ESP Alstare Ducati 1199 R +22.774s
11. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +33.284s
12. Matej Smrz CZE Yamaha Deutschland YZF-R1 +48.329s
13. Markus Reiterberger GER VANZON-REMEHA BMW S1000RR +48.627s
14. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA Grillini Dentalmatic BMW S1000RR +1m 32.530s
15. Eugene Laverty IRL Aprilia Racing RSV4 +2 laps

Not Classified

16. Jonathan Rea GBR Pata Honda CBR1000RR 18 laps completed
17. Leon Camier GBR Fixi Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 18 laps completed
18. Federico Sandi ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 17 laps completed
19. Max Neukirchner GER MR Ducati 1199 R 0 laps completed

Did Not Start

Loris Baz FRA Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R

Fastest lap
Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 54.594s

Results, race two:

1. Chaz Davies GBR BMW GoldBet S1000RR HP4 34m 36.933s
2. Eugene Laverty IRL Aprilia Racing RSV4 +0.132s
3. Marco Melandri ITA BMW GoldBet S1000RR HP4 +0.366s
4. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +1.189s
5. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Aprilia Racing RSV4 +1.621s
6. Davide Giugliano ITA Althea Racing RSV4 +3.233s
7. Ayrton Badovini ITA Alstare Ducati 1199 R +14.677s
8. Michel Fabrizio ITA Red Devils Roma RSV4 +18.859s
9. Carlos Checa ESP Alstare Ducati 1199 R +22.125s
10. Max Neukirchner GER MR Ducati 1199 R +23.828s
11. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +30.444s
12. Markus Reiterberger GER VANZON-REMEHA BMW S1000RR +36.419s
13. Leon Haslam GBR Pata Honda CBR1000RR +59.787s
14. Jules Cluzel FRA Fixi Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1m 05.331s
15. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA Grillini Dentalmatic BMW S1000RR +1m 27.381s

Not Classified

16. Matej Smrz CZE Yamaha Deutschland YZF-R1 18 laps completed
17. Federico Sandi ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1 lap completed

Did Not Start

Loris Baz FRA Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R
Jonathan Rea GBR Pata Honda CBR1000RR
Leon Camier GBR Fixi Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000

Fastest lap
Chaz Davies GBR BMW GoldBet S1000RR 1m 54.703s

Championship standings after 10 of 14 rounds: