Sterilgarda Yamaha's Tom Sykes reckons he was lucky to escape serious injury in his World Superbike race-one crash at Magny-Cours on Sunday when he lost the front in a fast left-hander.

Sykes and his YZF-R1 tumbled down the hill, thankful not collecting anyone else, after the Huddersfield youngster just jumped on the front brake a bit too hard.

"I made a bit of a mistake, I went for the brake lever and it was just a touch further out than I normally have it so my initial brake pressure was really strong and I knew that, but I had a split second and I lost the front and couldn’t save it," said Sykes.

"It was a massive crash and I was lucky to get away with it. For race two we changed the rear tyre, which I wasn’t convinced was the right one but we went with anyway, unfortunately I was proved right and was struggling with it.

"Before I could do anything, going into the hairpin Carlos Checa made a big mistake and I got caught up in that and landed badly, pulling the muscles in my shoulder. Luckily nothing broken, so a weekend to forget, and I’m looking forward to something better in Portimao.”