Sykes let down by set-up at Laguna Seca

Tom Sykes concedes he never found a comfortable set-up with his Kawasaki ZX-10RR over a race distance at Laguna Seca but was bemused why his promising free practice pace deserted him.

The Kawasaki Racing Team rider struggled to match the front-running pace and dropped down the order to seventh place in race one and despite finding gains for race two his woes continued as he finished a disappointing eighth place.

Sykes was left lost for words by his poor pace having felt optimistic after the free practice session, ending Friday practice third fastest, before producing his trademark qualifying strength by taking second place on the grid just 0.015s off pole-sitter Chaz Davies.

“We just did not get the set-up,” Sykes said. “We changed a couple of things but the only positive is that we confirmed that the front tyre yesterday was an issue.

“We had a relatively good front set-up but unfortunately it looks like a small change to the rear did not help. I just struggled really when it came to the races, which I am disappointed about.

“There is nothing much more I can say. The only strange thing is that during practice we had good speed and felt we were capable of a much stronger result.”

Sykes now trails 124 points off Kawsaaki teammate and World Superbike championship leader Jonathan Rea in the riders’ standings.