The Yorkshireman has had to endure what even the most optimistic person would call a troubled start to his first season aboard the Rizla Suzuki GSXR1000.
A clash with Leon Haslam and rear grip problems at
Thruxton, and some crashes and another clash with ahem, Leon Haslam at Oulton have pushed Sykes further down the points table.
The Suzuki is quick and Sykes has proved perfectly able to run at the front as he did last year on the Stobart Honda machine.
At
Brands Hatch, he finally delivered the result he wanted as Sykes scored a solid second place just behind series leader Shane Byrne in race one.
The relief was obvious for Sykes and the team but the bad luck came back to haunt both parties again in race two as a possible engine failire caused Sykes to be thrown off the Suzuki at the bottom of Hailwood Hill while in a challenging second place.
Sykes was thrown from the machine and ended up almost body surfing the blue bike that was belching out plumes of smoke into the faces of following riders, before coming to rest unharmed and very sportingly rushing over to marshals to let them know of the probable oil slick left on the racing line.
"The podium in race one has been a long time coming," revealed Sykes. "The technicians worked really hard and I'm pleased I was able to repay them with some champagne.
"As for race two, it was just unfortunate as I had the pace to win but crashed out due to a mechanical failure. I don't want to dwell on the incident as we have had a lot of positives this weekend."
Despite plenty of practice gained at the snowed off round and in the sessions over the repeated weekend today, Sykes' team-mate Atsushi Watanbe struggled to a 12th place in race before a non-finish in race two.
The double All Japan champion will as usual be practicing for the next round at
Donington Park with former champion John Reynolds showing Atsu the way round the UK GP venue.
