Jack Valentine has hailed Tom Sykes' double victory in the latest round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, the Rizla Suzuki team boss labelling his performance as 'mature'.
The first win for the team since Shane Byrne scored a victory at
Knockhill in 2006, it was also the first time they have swept the board since John Reynolds did so at
Oulton Park in 2004.
With Sykes showing several sides of his talent with his fine move for the lead on James Ellison in the first race and his ability to keep three of his rivals behind him in the second race, Valentine was proud of the 22-year-old's performance.
“In the first race, it was fantastic to get our first win of the season and we were confident we could do it again in the second race, but there are plenty of riders there capable of winning, so to get the double is fantastic,” Valentine told
Crash.net Radio.
“In the first race I think James surprised him as he came through there, but he made a nice, hard, clean pass on him and then turned the wick up and romped away. Not quite as easy as the second race, but he still did the job.
“I thought Tom drove a really mature race in the second race. The lap times were very similar, but he knew where they were, so he positioned himself very well and that really shows his race craft.”
The timing could not be much better as Sykes and Rizla Suzuki prepare for their World Superbike wild-card at
Brands Hatch in August. Valentine was refusing to get carried away though.
“We are going to be treating it as another weekend,” he added. “There are a few differences in the format, so the first thing we have to do is evaluate the tyres in order to qualify for Superpole, then we will go from there. Tom has never done a Superpole, so it will be new for him. If he is on the pace on race tyres then I like to think we will be up there.”
