Sykes hails 'oddball' session.

Tom Sykes believes he could have gone faster in qualifying for the sixth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, even if he was more than happy to be on pole position regardless.

The Rizla Suzuki rider was forced to do it the hard way when his primary bike, which had placed him at the top of the timesheets early on in the session, developed a clutch problem that forced him onto the spare machine.

Still third as the session reached the latter stages, Sykes was soon back on his bike and gradually closing on provisional pole position sitter Michael Laverty in the final minutes.

The decisive moment came with just ten seconds remaining though when Sykes rounded Devil's Elbow, crossing the line a mere tenth of a second faster than Laverty to wrestle back the initiative.

Crediting the upturn in performance to some minor set-up changes between practice ...