Yorkshireman Tom Sykes and the Paul Bird Motorsport Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R took a season best for rider and manufacturer with fourth place in race one at round six of the World Superbike Championship held at Misano in Italy.

As well as Sykes securing his first pole position of the year, the Kawasaki Superbike Racing Team had reason for even more celebration with Spaniard Joan Lascorz taking a ninth place finish and Australia's Chris Vermeulen being placed 14th in his comeback weekend, taking his first points of the year.

In the second race, Lascorz was top Kawasaki finisher in ninth place again with Vermeulen impressing into tenth. Sykes, who had been in line for a second good finish of the day in the first halted race, found the early laps of the restart difficult and he eventually fell, but remounted to finish 14th and take important points.

Tom Sykes: "We have come away from one of our least favourite circuits with a pole position and a fourth place. In race one I was feeling good and in race two, I dropped a couple of positions but I felt I had the pace to get them back easily. Then the race was stopped, I do not know why because as it turned out there was no oil or anything down, certainly nothing to stop the race. In the restart of race two, I got batting with a couple of guys and that put me out of my rhythm. I tried turning just a little bit tighter to go inside Xaus at turn three and unfortunately ran over the white line inside the track and that took the front away but I remounted and got two points. We were a lot stronger in race one for fourth and we have to be happy with the way things went this weekend, with a Superpole win and a good top four finish."

Joan Lascorz: "It was a strange race day but it gave me some points and two top ten placings so there are some positive things to take away from here. I fitted a soft tyre for race two and I had a better feeling and I could push more. Overall we have some positives so we know what is now possible."

Chris Vermeulen: "Obviously it was hard to jump back into the thick of it this weekend and we had three races, not two. I am a little bit sore now but we managed to finish both races in the points and with a little bit of luck, got into the top ten in race two. In race one, we had a little issue with the set-up because I was struggling to get a good feeling from the front of the bike but we were able to improve that in race two. We are still learning but we are improving all the time."

Paul Bird, Team Owner: "This is more like it and to see Tom on pole was very pleasing. Tom rode well to finish fourth and I was pleased with his strategy in passing Eugene Laverty on the last lap and he was unlucky to crash out in race two. We need to build on this success with Joan and Chris also so I'm hopeful of them doing this for the next race this weekend in Aragon."

Results - Race One1, C Checa (Althea Racing)2, M Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)3, M Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team)4, T Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)5, E Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team)6, L Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)7, S Guintoli (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing)8, A Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team)9, J Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team)10, M Berger (Supersonic Racing Team)14, C Vermeulen (Kawasaki Racing Team)

Results - Race Two1, C Checa (Althea Racing)2, M Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)3, N Haga (PATA Racing Team Aprilia)4, A Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team)5, L Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)6, M Fabrizio (Team Suzuki Alstare)7, S Guintoli (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing)8, R Xaus (Castrol Honda)9, J Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team)10, C Vermeulen (Kawasaki Racing Team)14, T Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)

Championship Standings (after round 6)1, C Checa - 245pts2, M Biaggi - 1733, M Melandri - 1504, E Laverty - 1235, L Haslam - 1066, L Camier - 1017, M Fabrizio - 958, J Rea - 949, J Smrz - 8310, S Guintoli - 7213, T Sykes - 6514, J Lascorz - 5320, C Vermeulen - 8