Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes took his fifth World Superbike race win of the season at Imola.

Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes is the new World Superbike Championship points leader after a dominant weekend in Italy where he would sweep the pool with a Superpole victory and two race wins.

The ZX-10R-mounted Sykes dominated the opening 21-lap affair after a conservative start to proceedings. From pole he slipped to fourth but initiated a controlled comeback, taking the lead and running away for a 7.198-second win.

An Aprilia would fight for second but this time it was the Althea Racing RSV4 of Davide Giugliano who was up front, challenging Sykes for a series of laps before settling back into position.

Works Aprilia rider Eugene Laverty was third, holding out the BMW Motorrad GoldBet machine of Marco Melandri who consolidated for fourth.

Red Devils Aprilia’s Michel Fabrizio rounded out the top five in a strong showing, holding off the advances of the second factory BMW of Chaz Davies and the leading FIXI Crescent Suzuki mount of Leon Camier.

Sykes’ win only added to the woes of the then points leader Sylvain Guntoli, who retired from the race before one-third distance with a technical problem.

Honda’s Jonathan Rea was another non-finisher, crashing out of the race two laps before the wave of the chequered. It marked a disappointing end to the race for Rea who holeshot the start and was in the mix for a top-four finish late in the piece.

There was plenty of interest in the progress of Noriyuki Haga, however the returning rider would end up rounding out the field on the privateer Grillini BMW, a split-second shy of his teammate.

Race two belonged to Sykes once more, with the factory Kawasaki rider confirming his fifth race victory of the season and taking the points lead in the process as he rode to a winning margin of over five seconds.

Following the disappointment of the previous race, Rea was able to salvage second, with Guintoli also redeeming himself following the earlier technical DNF to take the final place on the podium.

Melandri was a narrow fourth ahead of teammate Chaz Davies, with Sykes’ teammate Loris Baz rounding out the top five.

Race one podium-finisher Giugliano crashed out of the mix early, while Laverty was also a non-finisher after crashing his Aprilia on the sixth lap.

Sykes’ second clean sweep of 2013 sees him take the lead of the World Superbike Championship, an outcome he is especially pleased with given the significance of the event to the Kawasaki team.

“I have had two perfect weekends out of the last three events and for this I am truly happy,” said Sykes. “I enjoy this circuit so we have made the most of it.

“It is a special weekend for many reasons and also the incident last year with my 2012 team-mate Joan Lascorz. There was not one time on any lap when I have exited turn six and not thought about his accident. We are all thinking of Joan and I hope that this is a small, small tribute to him.

“Both the ZX-10R and myself have been working well. I have every single individual member of the Kawasaki staff and teams to thank, and our great technical sponsors.”

World Supersport race victory went to Kenan Sofuoglu of the Mahi Racing Team who led the shortened 14-lap affair from start to finish.

A red-flag situation early in the piece saw the race restarted for officials to attend to an oil spill in a precarious section of the circuit.

Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha’s Sam Lowes was second after overtaking teammate Vladimir Leonov on the final corner of the race.

Leonov had run with Sofuoglu for much of the duration but found himself in the clutches of a recovering Lowes to had to fight back from a slow start.

Pata Honda riders Lorenzo Zanetti and Michael van der Mark finished in fourth and fifth respectively.

In championship terms the solid points haul saw Lowes consolidate his advantage over Sofuoglu – he is now 34 points ahead of the Turkish rider and a further 21 clear of Fabien Foret.

Australian rider Mitchell Carr was a solid 19th place on his Triumph, while Matt Davies was an earlier retirement from the race just 3 laps in.

Defending Superstock 1000 champion, BMW’s Sylvain Barrier took his third class victory of the season at Imola, winning by 2.7 seconds over the Ducati-mounted Nicolo Canepa.

Ondrej Jezek was third in his first podium appearance in four years. Team Pedercini Kawasaki riders filled positions four and five, with Lorenzo Savadori edging out Leandro Mercado.

Barrier’s points lead extends to 12 after the fifth Superstock 1000 bout of the season; Canepa remains second, while France’s Jeremy Guarnoni clings to third by a point despite a disappointing showing this weekend.

Earlier in the weekend, Alessandro Nocco claimed his maiden Superstock 600 win in front of a home crowd, while Guillaume Raymond secured his third European Junior Cup victory.

Adrian Nestorovic was the sole Aussie finisher in the 600 class in 14th, with Mike Jones an early retirement. Zac Levy finished mid-field – 16th – in the European Junior Cup ranks.

2013 World Superbike Championship 

Round Seven – Imola, Italy
Superbike Race One Top 10:
1. Tom Sykes
2. Davide Giugliano
3. Eugene Laverty
4. Marco Melandri
5. Michel Fabrizio
6. Chaz Davies
7. Leon Camier
8. Ayrton Badovini
9. Loris Baz
10. Leon Haslam

Superbike Race Two Top 10:
1. Tom Sykes
2. Jonathan Rea
3. Sylvain Guintoli
4. Marco Melandri
5. Chaz Davies
6. Loris Baz
7. Leon Camier
8. Michel Fabrizio
9. Leon Haslam
10. Ayrton Badovini

Supersport Race Top 10:
1. Kenan Sofuoglu
2. Sam Lowes
3. Vladimir Leonov
4. Lorenzo Zanetti
5. Michael Vd Mark
6. Luca Scassa
7. Andrea Antonelli
8. Florian Marino
9. Alex Baldolini
10. Sheridan Morais
19. Mitchell Carr (Aus)

Click here for detailed results