Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes will start the World Superbike race at Imola from the second row tomorrow after finishing sixth in Superpole two. But Huddersfield’s finest still feels he wasn’t able to get the most from his bike, or a rear new race tyre.

The championship leader was unable to make the most of a qualifying tyre in Superpole two despite riding at a circuit which he has performed well at in the past, but the Englishman is confident that his race pace will see him compete at the front on Sunday.

He scored two race wins at Imola last season on his Ninja ZX-10R and is out to extend his current championship lead of twelve points once again.

“Things did not go to plan today. This weekend I have not been able to take the full benefit from a new rear race tyre. We were not able to use the bike to its true potential and unfortunately with the qualifying tyre it was the same,” said Sykes.

“At the moment some of our opposition are using it better than us, which is strange because we have always been very strong in these qualifying conditions. This year we have been a little bit better in race performance than in qualifying, so we will see how it goes. I am on the second row of the grid but it is not the end of the world as we have two long races tomorrow.

“We just need to get stuck in because tomorrow one that counts. We have shown signs of being good over race distance so I would like to think we will be in a good position for the two races tomorrow.”