Oulton Park British Superbikes: Tom Sykes looking for front-end feel

Rizla Suzuki rider Tom Sykes secured third spot on the grid for today’s British Superbike races but says he needs more front end feel in the dry.

The weekend has seen a mixture of conditions with extremely wet sessions, drying track conditions and moments of totally dry tarmac.

But with a wet setting just about dialled in, Sykes said he’ll be looking for an improvement in the dry setup in this afternoon’s BSB Warm Up session if the conditions allow.

He said:  “I think I could have been a little further up if I hadn’t been caught up in traffic at the end of the session but third place and the front row of the grid is fine as I know I can get away well.

“During free practice we worked our way through a number of wet settings and we have made some progress getting the bike nicely balanced for racing in the rain if it comes tomorrow.

“In the dry there is still a bit of work to be done as the front end is feeling a little vague at a couple of corners and I want the bike to be doing the work rather than me.

“I can put in consistent 1min 36s which is a good race pace so I feel confident ahead of tomorrow’s races.”

Sykes’ Crew Chief Pete Jennings added: “Tom did get baulked towards the end of the session which was a shame but his race pace is good, and we have a few little changes to make ahead of race day which we will evaluate during warm-up.”