Kawasaki's Tom Sykes had a pop at Ayrton Badovini during yesterday's post-race press conference, intimating the Italian's huge error at July's Motorland Aragon round, which nerfed Sykes out of a podium spot, contributed to his missing out on this year's World Superbike title.

Sykes was sitting in third place behind eventual champion Max Biaggi and Marco Melandri when Badovini lost the front of his Goldbest BMW and wiped out Sykes in the process, an action for which Sykes says the Italian never apologised.

"It wasn't to be this year, I've allowed for some mistakes from me which, touch wood weren't many, and some from the team but it's times like this when I am cursing Ayrton Badovini, especially when the guy doesn't apologise. It has proved costly and you don't allow for other people interfering in your championship but overall Kawasaki have put in a great effort and the ZX-10R has been probably the most consistent package on the grid," said Sykes.