Tom Sykes followed up his maiden Bennetts British Superbike victory with a second win just hours later after resisting the race long attentions of Cal Crutchlow, Shane Byrne and Leon Haslam.
Although not quite as comfortable as his first race victory, Sykes' second win was no less impressive after prevailing in an incredibly tense dual that saw the top four riders separated by no more than a second throughout the race.
Once again getting a good start from third on the grid, Sykes was nonetheless beaten to the first corner by fourth place Leon Haslam, the HM Plant rider making a strong early bid for a first victory on the Honda.
However, Haslam's hopes were dented as early as lap two when Sykes simply out-braked him heading into Lodge corner. Unlike the first race though, Sykes was unable to escape the chasing pack, with Haslam leading Crutchlow and Byrne, while James Ellison held onto the quartet in the early stages too.
It was Crutchlow though that soon led the fight to Sykes at the start of lap four with a surprisingly risky move around the outside of his team-mate coming into the Old Hall corner, the pair very nearly coming together down the home straight before the pole sitter sneaked back ahead.
From here the race descended into a procession that would have been dull had they been intricately line astern for the next 15 laps. What was proving a slow burner though soon began to ignite as the last few laps approached, with Byrne making the first move by passing Haslam for third at Knickerbrook.
Now eating at the tail of Crutchlow, the Honda rider was determined to make a pass at Sykes, but with the Suzuki rider holding his line and maintaining a good pace, he could not produce anything more than a feigned attempt.
