Tom Sykes was left confused and disappointed by race direction’s decision not to restart the second Superpole session, leaving him down in eighth position. Like most riders, the Briton hadn’t used a qualifying tyre before David Salom’s heavy crash and was frustrated not to get that opportunity.
“I feel very strong for the two races tomorrow but starting from this position on the third row of grid is obviously not what we wanted. I do not know about having a second chance to set a good time, it was just having a chance. I am a little bit speechless. I saw David have a very, very big crash and my first thoughts were with him but the final grid order is completely mixed up because everybody was building up to use a qualifying tyre. I am on the third row and this gives us a lot more work to do on our tyres. We will do the best we can tomorrow now.”
Teammate Jonathan Rea was also disappointed not to get a chance on the qualifying tyres but the Ulsterman enjoyed better fortune, with the premature stoppage handing him pole position on his Kawasaki debut.
“It was a strange way to end the session. From my point of view we did a good job with a race tyre in the high temperatures and the Kawasaki is working very well. We made a good set-up breakthrough in free practice four. I am really happy with pole position because it is the best possible result from qualifying. I also wanted the chance to use the qualifying tyre, however, because I know the Kawasaki uses the Q tyres very well too. So the lap time could have been quite good. But, this is still the best possible result for me after Superpole.”
