HM Plant Honda's Shane Byrne has said it felt good to get back to winning ways on his return to the British Superbike Championship, wrapping up the race-one victory at Brands Hatch before dicing for the win again in the second outing.

The two-time champion, who partners reigning BSB king Ryuichi Kiyonari, cruised away in race one but had a great scrap with Tommy Hill in the second leg which almost saw him run off the track with a handful of laps to go.

“I didn’t have any excuses if I didn’t have a result today riding for the championship-winning team! It was a hectic race and I got a good start and then Michael’s crash happened in slow motion right in front of me and I was lucky that I managed to miss him," said Byrne.

"That incident then bunched us all up and then I had a fight with Stuart Easton but I knew I had to get passed him as soon as possible. It’s fantastic to have won the first race of the season.

“I felt good again in the second race and I had another good start so I was happy with that! I was able to lead for a few laps and I was pushing but then Tommy came past me and I wanted to get back to the front. I had been losing to Tommy a bit coming out of Clearways and then with three laps to go I got a better drive out of the corner.

"As we approached Paddock Hill Bend I thought ‘I can make this’ then I realised ‘no you can’t’ so I had to scrub off some speed which lost me the place. It was one of those things, but to come away from here with a first and a third ahead of Oulton Park next weekend is a good start to the season and all credit has to go to the HM Plant Honda team.”