Kawasaki's Tom Sykes has said he is under pressure to continue his rich run of World Superbike form at this weekend's Miller Motorsport Park round but it comes from himself, not his factory team.

The Huddersfield man is only five points behind Max Biaggi in the championship title chase and has set pole position for every race so far bar the ill-fated Monza round. Consistent point scoring has seen him climb to second in the points table and he aims to carry that on in America.

"Miller has not been a spectacular venue for me in the past but it has also not been too bad. This year, with the Ninja ZX-10R the way it is, we have come a long way with the bike and I am hoping we can go there and start afresh. I hope we will be able to compete and we have been fairly consistent this year. Now we are only five points off the lead, which is really promising," said Sykes.

"There is a bit of pressure going into Salt Lake, just to keep the performance up, but the only pressure is from myself. I do not want to let myself down. Last time out Donington was a little bit of a challenge for us so it was good to come away with a pole position and two third places. My main goal is, like always, to get two top four or top five positions and keep those points coming in.”