Sykes, starting from second on the grid opted for dry tyres whilst many other riders chose wets in what was declared a wet race and led from start to finish. This was Tom's second race win of the season, but the first that he claimed the full haul of 25 points.

Sykes finished race 2 in second, only 0.9 secs of race winner Marco Melandri, but has now closed the gap on Marco to within 41 points, with 6 races to go, including the Nurburgring, the scene of his first ever Superbike win for KRT in 2011.

Tom Sykes: ,I>“This race win was better than the Monza one as we got a little bit more of a reward in points terms. I did a lot of work on tyres yesterday and we went a slightly different way from most people in race one. We worked a lot on this yesterday and that work paid off today. The bike felt great. I had a little bit of pressure on at half race distance but I was trying to save the tyre a little bit. When the gap got down to three seconds I pushed on a little more and it seemed to work. To lead start-to-finish and take the win over full race distance is very rewarding. We had a good margin at the end and it was a nice race. Quite a long race, to be honest, and it is quite a physical circuit. The lap is short but more concentration and physical input in needed compared to some other circuits.

Overall we should be very satisfied. Race one was great with maximum points and race two gave us another 20 points in the bag. I got a little bit carried away battling with Eugene behind me in race two and in trying to save my tyre I did not read the pit signals. When I looked there were two laps remaining and I wanted to push on and try to pressure Marco in the last few laps. I felt I had a good package today and could have done it, but when you are riding with guys of Marco’s standard you cannot leave things to the last minute. But, realistically, we are happy. A first and second, still third overall and the gap at the front tightening up. There are still a lot of points to play for.”

Loris Baz was unfortunate to find his rear tyre suffer a suspected puncture after he ran off track, finishing 11th. In race two he recovered from some crashes and a subsequent lack of track time in practice to post a ninth place finish, just losing out in a rider-to-rider battle with Ayrton Badovini.

Loris Baz: “In race one I was there just waiting on the track to dry because in those conditions there is only one line. I tried to pass one rider but another rider tried to pass me in turn 11 and he crashed and I ran wide, so think we lost some pressure in the rear tyre after that. I was sliding all around. Race two was not so bad but I could not follow any pace any higher than my own. I had three or four very hard laps where I could not have the same pace as Leon Camier and Ayrton Badovini. I always know that we can take back some difference later on and I tried hard to pass Badovini but he always passed me back. I am happy to be ninth after all we had this weekend. It did not start very well but it ended up with two finishes in the points and one top ten.”