Sykes out in front after Nurburgring

The Kawaksi rider won the opening race, which was cut short due to a red flag, to move ahead of Sylvain Guintoli at the top of the standings.

Guintoli finished fourth in race one and could only manage a fifth-placed finish in race two as Sykes took fourth to move one-point clear of the Aprilla racer.

The British racer’s win came after a red flag brought the first race to an end as Jonathan Rea and Leon Camier both crashed on an oil spillage at turn nine and, although Marco Melandri was leading at the time, Sykes was handed the win as he led at the start of the previous lap.

Melandri’s BMW team-mate Chaz Davies rounded out the podium in the first race before taking victory in race two.

Eugene Laverty finished an impressive second, just over one-tenth behind Davies, with Melandri taking third.

The race one win was Sykes’s sixth this season. The Yorkshireman will be hoping he has hit the front at just the right time with only four races, in Istanbul, Laguna Seca, Magny-Cours and Jerez, remaining.