HM Plant Honda's Shane Byrne was disappointed to be taken out of a podium position in the second British Superbike race at Snetterton yesterday even though John Hopkins has apologised for pushing him onto the grass with only a few corners to go.

Byrne got a third in race one after yesterday's qualifying disaster and was in the hunt for a win in the second outing when Hopkins tried to go underneath the former WSB man at Williams, forcing him off track. Both Ryuichi Kiyonari and Josh Brookes took advantage to bag first and second.

"In the beginning of the first race I was feeling really comfortable and was in touch with John (Hopkins) and Tommy (Hill). It was the first time I had done a long race run though and I was struggling with tyre longevity over the final laps. They were ahead and after the safety car I thought that it was better to take third and a Podium Credit than ending on the floor with a crash," said Byrne.

"The team has been working hard and in race two the boys had done such a great job to improve the HM Plant Honda Fireblade; by the restart I felt we had the pace to challenge for the win. It has taken us longer than expected to get up to the pace we needed this weekend and the HM Plant Honda Fireblade was feeling fantastic.

The race had been pretty hectic and I had got in front of Hopper the lap before and I was obviously disappointed to be taken out. He has since apologised but I was a bit gutted really as I thought I could have won that second race."