Factory Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes had to again give best to team-mate Jonathan Rea in the opening World Supebrike race at Buriram and said that he was suffering in three corners which allowed the reigning champion just to stay ahead even though the Huddersfield man closed back down on the last lap.
Sykes led for a majority of race one in Thailand but experienced some problems when his laptimer broke in the closing stages and he lost his reference points. The Huddersfield man aims to be back with a stronger package in the second outing tomorrow.
“We led a lot of the race but not the important part. Once we got going I was happy with the laptime, we were consistent but all the time I could see Jonathan was on the back. He made a couple of mistakes as the gap sometimes opened but all in all we both had good bikes but in three corners, I suffered and that’s where he made the gap,” said Sykes, speaking at the track.
“Certainly, I will improve my bike overnight and they will do the same. We are much stronger than last year at a track that gave me big issues last year. I had a rhythm through the race but with four laps to go, my lap timer stopped working so I lost the reference but then got a new one as Jonathan came past me. Sometimes, when the laptimer stops working, it has some side effects.”
