Sykes: 'I had to fight for it!'

Tom Sykes took a seventh consecutive victory at Donington Park this afternoon and says the win was all the more rewardable given the fight he had to put up to get it.

Having been beaten up in the first corner, the Yorkshireman found himself fourth at the end of the first lap between both factory Ducatis and team-mate Jonathan Rea.

Chaz Davies crashing out of the race on the sixth lap and Jonathan Rea overshooting at both Melbourne and Goddards helped Sykes move forward and catch up with race leader Davide Giugliano.

Remaining on the Ducati’s tail for ten laps, Sykes kept his cool before making his move and immediately gapping the Italian to comfortably win the race by more than two seconds.

“I have no real reason why I have won so much at Donington Park but what makes it more rewarding today is that I had to fight for it,” he said after the race. “I got a good start but a couple of the guys really made some strong passes to get in front. I am sure if we could have had some good steady laps at the beginning we also would have had good pace – but I am happy that I had to fight for it.

“I had some issues myself from the bike, which is unusual, but the good thing is that even considering these I dug deep and came out with 25 points. After six laps I could understand what was going on and I thought it would be very difficult, maybe impossible to win. We kept plugging away and I had to manage the bike a bit differently in some areas to compensate. Overall I am really happy to win and the plan tomorrow is to be stronger, safer and more consistent.”