Top of the world Sykes dedicates wins to Lascorz

New series leader Tom Sykes pays tribute to former team-mate Joan Lascorz by claiming a pair of dominant World Superbike Championship victories at Imola.

Ollie Barstow

30 Jun 2013

Tom Sykes has moved to the top of the World Superbike Championship standings for the first time in his career after notching up a pair of dominant double victories at Imola, results he went on to dedicate to former Kawasaki team-mate Joan Lascorz.

Following on from his incredible Superpole performance on the Saturday, Sykes was barely troubled on race day either, shrugging off the early attentions of Davide Giugliano in both races to come away a comfortable winner on each occasion.

The ideal response to his costly failure to score at Portimao last time out when a crash on the sighting lap forced him out of contention, Sykes's maximum haul of 50 points not only bridged the gap to erstwhile leader Sylvain Guintoli, but would see him go ahead by six points.

Following on from his double success at Donington Park earlier this year, Sykes is thrilled to see his name atop of the overall standings

"I have had two perfect weekends out of the last three events and for this I am truly happy. I enjoy this circuit so we have made the most of it. A perfect weekend so it could not have been any better.

"Both the ZX-10R and myself have been working well. I have every single individual member of the Kawasaki staff and teams to thank, and our great technical sponsors. Without their help I would not be able to showcase myself so I truly am grateful. Hopefully now this is a beginning of a challenge but we will see how we go."

Poignantly, Sykes would go on to dedicate his wins to former team-mate Lascorz, who was left paralysed in a tragic accident during testing at Imola last season. Indeed, the Briton says the young Spaniard was never far from his mind every time he approached the fateful urn six.

"It is a special weekend for many reasons and also the incident last year with my 2012 team-mate Joan Lascorz. There was not one time on any lap when I have exited turn six and not thought about his accident. We are all thinking of Joan and I hope that this is a small, small tribute to him. "