Tom Sykes admits he was lucky to come away from Magny-Cours with nothing more than a broken little finger after high-speed crashes in both World Superbike races left him bruised and battered.

Desperate to make up for a disappointing qualifying position of 14th, Sykes was sweeping around the relatively innocuous left-hander ahead of Lycee when he 'over-braked' slightly and came down at high-speed.

Sending his Yamaha R1 catapulting down the track – just missing the remainder of the field as it bounced back across the circuit - Sykes himself was lucky to just miss the barrier as he slid along the grass.

"In race one I made a bit of a mistake, I went for the brake lever and it was just a touch further out than I normally have it so my initial brake pressure was really strong and I knew that, but I had a split second and I lost the front and couldn't save it. It was a massive crash and I was lucky to get away with it.”

Despite breaking his right little finger in the smash, Sykes was back out on circuit for race two, although he would only last until lap four when he collided with Carlos Checa after the Spaniard had made an error whilst being distracted by the fallen Michel Fabrizio ahead of him.

Although Sykes was stretchered off the circuit, he says he has suffered nothing more than a pulled muscle in his shoulder, adding that he will be fit in time for the season finale in Portugal.

“For race two we changed the rear tyre, which I wasn't convinced was the right one but we went with anyway, unfortunately I was proved right and was struggling with it. Before I could do anything, going into the hairpin Carlos Checa made a big mistake and I got caught up in that and landed badly, pulling the muscles in my shoulder.

“Luckily nothing broken, so a weekend to forget, and I'm looking forward to something better in Portimao."