Reigning World Superbike Champion Tom Sykes has blamed a gust of wind for the crash which ended his challenge for World Superbike pole position at Phillip Island.

The works Kawasaki man says a big gust of wind caught his ZX-10R at the top of Lukey Heights and, although he managed to save it once, down he went. The Huddersfield man will start from the third row tomorrow.

“We were steady away with the race tyre to start. When we put the qualifying tyre in I was on a great pace and the bike felt really good. I got to the top of Lukey Heights and even though I knew I was being steady there, it was obviously not steady enough,” said Sykes.

“As soon as I came over the top of the hill the wind got underneath the bike. I managed to save it but it immediately lost it again as I tried to recover. It was a big shame that, but that is how racing goes sometimes. I am disappointed and I know that lap would have been well into the 1’29s, which would have been a nice personal goal to reach.

“Tomorrow is another day and I am ready for it. Our race pace is good and we have been working very hard, so we are definitely ready to race. The only thing we lost is some starting positions but hopefully we will be wise enough to be able to recover from that in the races.”