Tom Sykes believes he could have gone faster in qualifying for the sixth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, even if he was more than happy to be on pole position regardless.
The Rizla Suzuki rider was forced to do it the hard way when his primary bike, which had placed him at the top of the timesheets early on in the session, developed a clutch problem that forced him onto the spare machine.
Still third as the session reached the latter stages, Sykes was soon back on his bike and gradually closing on provisional pole position sitter Michael Laverty in the final minutes.
The decisive moment came with just ten seconds remaining though when Sykes rounded Devil's Elbow, crossing the line a mere tenth of a second faster than Laverty to wrestle back the initiative.
Crediting the upturn in performance to some minor set-up changes between practice and qualifying, Sykes admits he was always quietly confident of mounting a challenge for pole position.
“It was a bit of an oddball session” Sykes told
Crash.net Radio. “We made some minor changes from free practice to qualifying and those minor changes made a massive change to the bike in terms of handling. We were very fast and consistent out of the trap, so I had some expectations from then on in.
“Then, unfortunately, we developed a problem with the bike mid-session and I had to revert back to my second bike. There wasn't much I could do with only ten minutes to go because I'd dropped from first to third and I only had two laps to respond.
“I had to change my style to suit the bike but when I managed a 56.2secs on the first lap, I thought pole position was still possible. So I just dug deep and put the Rizla Suzuki on top!”
Not quite content with pole position, Sykes believes there is more speed to come from the Suzuki, giving him confidence for the races ahead.
“I wanted to get on the front row, but I have a pole position which is a bonus. What concerns me most is that I got pole position on a bike that wasn't right, so I think I could have broken into the 55secs if I had to. I am confident for the races.
