FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) was overshadowed by a heavy crash involving BMW Motorrad’s Tom Sykes in Race 2.

The British rider was rushed to the hospital, whereby initial examinations revealed he suffered a concussion.

It was a day of poor luck for BMW Motorrad as Michael van der Mark fell on the first lap during morning’s Superpole race, thus sending Sykes into the gravel trap.

The race was later suspended after another accident, which resulted in neither of the BMW Motorrad riders being allowed to participate in the restart.

At the start of Race 2, Sykes fell off his bike. This time, he was hit by another rider, sending the 36-year-old to the medical centre before officials proceeded to take him to the hospital for further assessment.

The incident resulted in another suspension of the race before it was restarted which saw fellow BMW rider van der Mark crossed the line at 9th place.

Nonetheless, Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director, has confirmed that Sykes is conscious and is currently undergoing further hospital examinations.

“Our main concern is that Tom is well. He is conscious and in hospital for further checks at the moment. We have our fingers firmly crossed that he has come through the crash relatively unscathed.

“It was not an easy day. Unfortunately, Mickey also took out Tom when he crashed in this morning’s Superpole race.

“As they had already completed three laps by the time the red flag appeared, we were unfortunately unable to join in when the Superpole race restarted.

“In race two, Tom fell and was then unfortunately hit by another rider. Mickey was ninth in race two. They were probably difficult conditions for many riders, but that was obviously not the result we were striving for.

“It was a difficult end to a weekend that actually started very positively,” he said.

WorldSBK will return to action next weekend a the iconic Circuito de Jerez, Spain.

Francesco Bagnaia secured his back-to-back victories in Misano just a week after claiming his first MotoGP win in Aragon.

The win was a major boost for the Ducati rider, who even held off championship leader Fabio Quartararo at the later stage of the race.

Bagnaia took the chequered in style as he led the entire race from the start before crossing the finish line ahead of the Frenchman while fellow Ducati’s, Enea Bastianini, took his first podium of the season at 3rd place onboard a two-year-old Ducati machine.

According to Bagnaia, the start of the race played a pivotal role in his home win.

“I knew that it was very important to start well and already be pushing from the start because, with the soft, the grip initially was better.

“I also knew that Fabio (Quartararo) in the last part of the race would be faster with the medium. So, I just tried to be fast and constant from the start.

“I did my best start ever because I started when the light went off, so it was incredible.

“I trained a lot for this. When I passed the first straight, I was already looking to the board, and it was plus 1.0 seconds which was incredible already,” said the 24-year-old Italian.

The win also reduces Quartararo championship lead to just 48 points with four more rounds to go.

MotoGP will return to action in the first week of October at the Circuit of the Americas.