Aprilia’s Marco Melandri saw the World Superbike title slip further out of reach as he ended up crashing out of the second race at Laguna Seca, leaving him 108 points behind championship leader, Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes.

The former MotoGP rider started out so well, and took the victory in the opening race at the American circuit – a track he knows well. But the diminutive Italian remains fifth in the overall standings, making it nearly impossible to snatch his first World Superbike title.

““My start in race one was great even if I was a bit nervous in the first laps since Tom usually tries to pull the pin straight away. When he made that mistake at the Corkscrew I thought that was the right opportunity to push it to the limit,” said Melandri.

“I set my pace, staying focused and not making any mistakes. It's a shame about race two. I made a few gear changing mistakes on the third start that made me think there was a problem with the ratios and that cost me my concentration.

“When I realised that everything was fine I decided to push hard but I went long at the last turn. I'm disappointed because a double win was definitely within reach, but I'm still happy about the work we did this weekend."