Byrne blitzes Snetterton opposition to return to winning ways

Courtesy of MCE – BSB British Superbike

Results Race one: 1: Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki) 2: Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) +2.685s 3: Jason O’Halloran (Honda Racing) +5.013s 4: Tommy Bridewell (Tyco BMW) +8.134s 5: Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) +14.134s 6: Chris Walker (Be Wiser Kawasaki) +14.592s Race two: 1: Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki) 2: Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) +4.676s 3: Jason O’Halloran (Honda Racing) +5.404s 4: Michael Laverty (Tyco BMW) +5.471s 5: Tommy Bridewell (Tyco BMW) +6.323s 6: Stuart Easton (PBM Kawasaki) +9.146s Championship standings: 1: Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki) 151 2: Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) 134 3: James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) 118 4: Stuart Easton (PBM Kawasaki) 99 5: Tommy Bridewell (Tyco BMW) 77 6: Jason O’Halloran (Honda Racing) 74 Report Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne regained the lead in the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship standings as he blitzed the opposition with a fourth round double victory at Snetterton, leading the double Australian threat of Josh Brookes and Jason O’Halloran. Byrne had not won a race since the opening round of the season at Donington Park in April, but he beat off the challenge of Milwaukee Yamaha’s Brookes, who had also been scrapping with fellow countryman O’Halloran for Honda Racing. Whilst Byrne surged back to the top, triple Champion Ryuichi Kiyonari’s troubles continued and he held 19th after tyre woes during the opening race and James Ellison also was struck by misfortune as he was forced to retire, relinquishing his standings lead. Meanwhile Tommy Bridewell forged forward to secure fourth for Tyco BMW ahead of Dan Linfoot and Chris Walker aboard the Be Wiser Kawasaki, who scored his best result of the season so far for the Tommy Hill-managed squad. An incident-packed second race featured early drama for Kiyonari as he crashed out of contention on the third lap before the Nissan GT-R Safety Car was called in to play when Taylor Mackenzie had to eject from his WD40 Kawasaki as it became engulfed in flames. The race soon resumed and Byrne was not going to take any prisoners, claiming the second win of the day. However behind the chasing pack were scrapping it out and Brookes overcame some earlier electrical gremlins to claim second after a pulling a determined move on O’Halloran at Nelsons. Laverty equalled his best result of the season in fourth place ahead of Ellison, who salvaged a seventh place which now leaves him third in the standings ahead of Stuart Easton who took seventh and sixth places on the second PBM Kawasaki. Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki) R1: 1st, R2: 1st Championship position: 1st (151 points) “The weekend feels pretty good with these two wins. We had a problem in the first race with the bike thinking that it was changing gear when it was not – that race was actually a lot harder than it looked because of that. I had to be careful to keep a good pace and rhythm and bring the bike home to win. “The guys fixed the bike and it was faultless in the second race and I never looked back. I anticipated it would be a tougher race with Josh [Brookes] starting alongside me but I chipped away at it then saw Jason [O’Halloran] up there. I watched my pit-boards, rode consistently and did what I had to do. It felt like I was cruising around – the team had worked so hard to hard to get us where we are, so now it is onwards and upwards for us.”

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