Kawasaki Racing’s Tom Sykes will miss Saturday’s World Superbike Superpole and first race after sustaining a broken finger in a fiery third practice crash at the Algarve circuit.
The British rider was on his out-lap at the beginning of the 25-minute session when he lost the rear end of his ZX-10RR cresting the brow of the hill on the entry to Turn 9.
The bike bucked and weaved before ejecting the Yorkshireman skyward – the Kawasaki bursting into flames as it skidded throw the gravel trap.
The red flag was brought out and Sykes was transferred to the medical centre, where checks revealed he had suffered a dislocated fracture of his left fifth finger.
The WorldSBK medical team declared the Briton unfit, meaning he will miss the rest of Saturday’s action, and likely be absent for Sunday’s warm-up session and the second race of the Portuguese round.
Sykes is currently 70 points adrift of KRT team-mate and championship leader Jonathan Rea – who topped the final practice timesheets.
