WSB: Sykes adapted style to win in Laguna

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Tom Sykes was forced to change his style in order to clinch victory in Sunday’s second World Superbike race at Laguna Seca.

Struggling with a lack of edge grip from his Pirelli rear tyre, Sykes had to alter his style in order to fend off the hard-charging Ducati duo following team-mate Jonathan Rea’s retirement.

While the change in style slowed the overall pace, Sykes was able to hold off Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies to take his fifth victory of the season.

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“That was quite exciting and I had a lot of pressure from the Ducati riders all race long,” he said after the race. “We struggled with edge grip today so I had to change my style a little bit to defend my line. It destroyed the lap time but gave us the 25 points. Overall, it was good race for the spectators and a close one between three riders.

“I am happy enough but it was a difficult race in some ways. The restart was one more thing to think about and we made some changes, making the best of the situation. We never had the perfect set-up but I feel we made a good compromise.

“We have made a good weekend, with pole position, a second place and a win. We will go into the summer break on a high and try to learn from the information we took from the previous Misano round and this one, and then try to put the jigsaw together for the last part of the season.”

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