Tom Sykes extended his World Superbike Championship lead as he and Eugene Laverty shared the wins at Laguna Seca.
Kawasaki rider Sykes came through race one, which was red flagged twice, to take his seventh win, but was denied a double victory by a last gasp effort from Aprilia’s Laverty in race two.
Despite missing out on the double win, Sykes now holds a healthy 23 point lead over Laverty in the championship with just two meetings of the season remaining.
Race one proved to be an eventful affair with the red flag making two appearances.
The first start was aborted due to crashes for Jordan Suzuki’s Danny Eslick and team-mate Roger Hayden.
Racing didn’t last long at the second time of asking with Leon Haslam and Niccolo Canepa suffering nasty crashes bringing out the red flags once again.
Luckily all the riders escaped without injury.
The race was eventually contested over 12 laps instead of the scheduled 26.
Kawasaki rider Sykes had looked good in the two aborted runs, as did his closest rival in the championship Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli, who started on pole.
However the pair both endured slow starts when the race got under way for the final time.
Chaz Davies and fellow BMW rider Marco Melandri made the early running at the front, but Sykes took advantage when Guintoli tried to take the Italian, moving ahead of his French rival and into third.
Sykes then took Melandri and finally worked his way into first place on lap 10 with a fine overtaking manoeuvre to pass Davies.
Davies managed to hold on to second place at the flag with Laverty claiming the final place on the podium in third.
Laverty took the lead at the start of race two while Sykes managed to place his Kawasaki crucially ahead of Guintoli.
By lap five Sykes took the lead as he slipped past Laverty and shortly after Davide
Giugliano followed the move slotting into second position.
At the halfway point it was four bike battle for the lead with Laverty and Marco Melandri closing in on the lead duo.
At the front, Sykes began to struggle with his tyres which produced a fascinating dice for the lead with the Brit showcasing all of his defensive riding skills.
But the longtime leader was unable to hang on as Laverty dived past on the penultimate lap and he went on to take the win. Unsettled by the move, Sykes dropped to fourth at the flag as Giugliano and Melandri both slipped through.
The World Superbike Championship heads Magny-Cours in France for the penultimate round of the season from October 4-6.
