Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne put in two faultless performances at Snetterton today with the Be Wiser Ducati ace winning both MCE British Superbike Championship races to move up to second in theChampionship table after round five.
Having claimed pole position the previous day, and set the fastest time in every single session, the Sittingbourne rider was clearly in top form on the factory-backed Be Wiser Ducati Panigale R and in confident mood as the field lined up for the first 16-lap race although a slightly sluggish start saw him complete the first lap in fourth place.
However, the five-times and defending champion was simply biding his time and just a lap later he was up into second before grabbing the lead and aided by a number of fastest laps, he was never challenged and he went on to take a comfortable victory by over three seconds from Josh Brookes.
The 40 year old started the second race from pole position once more and slotted into third at the end of the first lap behind Brookes and Ellison. At half race distance he set a new lap record which enabled him to overhaul Ellison and he promptly set about closing down race leader Brookes. On the 14th lap, he duly took the lead and eventually took the win by 0.686s for his 80th BSB career victory.
It was Byrne’s third win of the season and his 19th career double which continued his impressive run of victories at the Norfolk track taking his tally to ten at the track for himself and Paul Bird’s Penrith-based team.
Shane Byrne: “It’s been a good weekend and in both races, I used my head and bided my time. I didn’t make the greatest of starts in race one but stayed safe in the first few laps and we’d worked hard over the weekend to make sure we were fast throughout the race. I took my time to get to the front and then at half race distance pushed on a bit and it all panned out perfectly. Race two wasdefinitely tougher as Josh (Brookes) was setting a good pace. He put the hammer down around half race distance so I made my move and obliterated my own lap record to grab the lead soon after. The Be Wiser Ducati team did a great job all weekend and after only getting a couple of thirds at Knockhill and with Glenn getting injured, it’s good to put the smiles back on everyone’s faces.”
Stuart Bland, Team Co-ordinator: “It’s been a fantastic weekend for both Shakey and the team and having dominated every practice and qualifying session, he deservedly took both race wins. The team worked really hard from the beginning and also at the test here a few weeks ago when we did a lot of the ground work in preparation for this weekend. We found a good set up and after a slow start to the season, everything’s back on track now and we should be strong at the next two circuits as well. It was a shame Glenn wasn’t here this weekend as I think we could have had two bikes on the podium but hopefully he’ll be fit to return at Brands and we can have two bikes challenging at the front.”
Carrickfergus rider Glenn Irwin hopes to return from injury to team up with Byrne at the next round of the series which takes place at Brands Hatch in three weeks’ time.
MCE British Superbike Championship race one (16 laps)
1 Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati)
2 Josh Brookes (Yamaha)
3 Jason O’Halloran (Honda)
4 Leon Haslam (Kawasaki)
5 Dan Linfoot (Honda)
6 Jake Dixon (Kawasaki)
MCE British Superbike Championship race two (16 laps)
1 Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati)
2 Josh Brookes (Yamaha)
3 Jason O’Halloran (Honda)
4 Jake Dixon (Kawasaki)
5 John Hopkins (Ducati)
6 Peter Hickman (BMW)
Championship Positions (after five rounds)
1 Mossey 147pts
2 Byrne 140
3 Haslam 132
4 Brookes 118
5 O’Halloran 115
6 Hickman 93
9 Irwin 63