Tom Sykes and Chaz Davies on top of the Ring

Sunday, September 1 at the Nurburgring was a day of exciting races and injury setbacks for some of the protagonists of the 2013 Superbike World Championship. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) scored one victory each on the Eifel venue, with the Huddersfield-born rider who regaining the championship lead by 1pt over Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), while the Welshman rode his S1000RR to first place for the first time since the double win at Aragon last April.

On the down-side of race day, Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team), Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) and Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) all had heavy crashes and were injured. Baz, following the crash he had during the morning's warm-up, was diagnosed with a fractured C2 vertebra, fortunately with no lasting nerve issues. The young Frenchman is fully conscious and has full mobility. Rea sustained a fractured left femur and he will undergo surgery at the military hospital at Koblenz.

Good news from Leon Camier: after being immediately assessed at trackside by the medical staff he was then flown by Air Ambulance to Stiffungs Klinicum in Koblenz. Camier was scanned for potential neck injuries, but the scans proved negative and he was given the all-clear despite the massive impact.

Championship leader Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) holds now only a single-point advantage on Sykes after finishing the race in fourth place, ahead of Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia), Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Aprilia) and Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike). Factory Aprilia rider Eugene Laverty ended up 15th after crashing out of turn four in the early stages of the race, and rejoining following a pit-stop. Home rider Max Neukirchner (MR-Racing Ducati) had to withdraw from the race due to a technical problem occurred on the fourth lap.

In race two, Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) got back on the top step of the podium after winning the second race of the day, that was red-flagged on the 19th lap after Matej Smrz (Yamaha Motor Deutschland) suffered a highside and landed on the track next to his YZF-R1, laying some oil on the tarmac.

The Welshman successfully defended the lead in the final laps in a three-way battle with second place Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) and team mate Melandri. Davies was able to repeat exactly the same results scored last year in the two races, and achieved a long-awaited win after the double at Aragon earlier in 2013.

Despite the absence of three top riders due to injuries sustained today – Baz during the warm-up, Camier and Rea in first race - race two was characterised by a fierce battle up front for the win. Sykes and Guintoli finished fourth and fifth respectively, after being very close to the front for most of the 18 laps completed. The two riders, though, could not manage to get in the mix for the top three, as well as sixth place Giugliano, who lost a lot of ground in the closing stages.

Once Sofuoglu pulled out of the race, his team mate Fabien Foret was unable to keep the pace of the Brit, so for the points leader it was only a matter of maintaining the gap up to the finish line. Lowes is now 54 points ahead of Sofuoglu in the standings, and could be crowned champion already after the Turkish rider's home round scheduled for September 15.

Kev Coghlan (DMC-Lorenzini Kawasaki) made an impressive recovery throughout the last part of the race to get his maiden WSS podium finish of his career, after getting the better of Lorenzo Zanetti (Pata Honda World Supersport) in the closing stages. Vladimir Leonov (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha), on the other hand, was in third place when he suffered a technical problem during the 15th lap.

For full results and standings, visit www.worldsbk.com.