Penrith-based Paul Bird Motorsport was left rueing their luck once again after a weekend which promised so much but left them empty handed.

Team owner Paul Bird was hoping to become the first man in history to claim three successive Manx National Rally wins but slid off the road in his Ford Focus WRC when leading and the planned improvements for his Kawasaki Superbike Racing Team didn't work out in round four of the World Superbike Championship which took place at Monza.

In the scorching Italian sun, British rider Tom Sykes could only manage an 11th and 13th place finish aboard the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R with Spanish team-mate Joan Lascorz bouncing back from a race one crash to claim a best result of ninth in the day's second race for the team. Australian Chris Vermeulen crashed out during Friday's free practice session injuring his arm which resulted in him not racing.

The results leave Sykes in 13th place in the title race, one point and one place ahead of his team-mate Lascorz going into the next round which takes place in Miller Motorsports Park in the USA on May 30th.


Tom Sykes:

"We didn't have the speed or the race package to work with this weekend obviously there is some work to be done. We all need to pick our heads up and stay focused and positive. I will keep my head down and keep working and I am still confident we can make it work. I got caught up in the crash at the first chicane and lost time on the exit, which made things harder. I think I had a bit of a bit better pace early on if I had got latched onto a leading group."

Joan Lascorz:

"All weekend we had been working with the soft race tyre then when we tested the harder tyre the bike needed a lot of adjustment. We made some changes after warm-up and found some better rear grip but lost the front and I crashed. In race two I did my best and I was reasonably satisfied with a top ten finish and we will be better in the next one. I would like to be fighting more in the front group."

Paul Bird, Team Owner:

"I was hoping that this weekend might have turned our fortunes around but if anything, our luck has got worse. We just need a bit of good fortune to come our way and we'll be fine but we need to start seeing some improvements soon as I have every confidence that the bike is good enough to challenge for podiums."



Results - Race 1

1, E Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team)
2, M Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)
3, L Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
4, M Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team)
5, M Fabrizio (Team Suzuki Alstare)
6, J Rea (Castrol Honda)
7, T Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
8, L Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)
9, C Checa (Althea Racing)
10, J Smrz (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing)
13, T Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
DNF J Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team)

Results - Race 2

1, E Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team)
2, M Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team)
3, M Fabrizio (Team Suzuki Alstare)
4, N Haga (PATA Racing Team Aprilia)
5, T Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
6, A Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team)
7, S Guintoli (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing)
8, M Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)
9, J Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team)
10, C Checa (Althea Racing)
11, T Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)

Championship Standings (after Round 4)

1, C Checa - 145pts
2, M Melandri - 118
3, M Biaggi - 117
4, J Rea - 89
5, E Laverty - 85
6, L Haslam - 84
7, M Fabrizio - 74
8, L Camier - 58
9, J Smrz - 55
10, N Haga - 47
13, T Sykes - 34
14, J Lascorz - 33