Welcome to the beta version of the new Women & Golf website. Our web monkeys are still hard at work and welcome your feedback.  

Advertisement

Assen BSB: Byrne makes up for 'disastrous' start to finish on the rostrum

Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne is still the current MCE British Superbike series leader, and even after a ‘disastrous’ start to the final race at Assen he still had a 100 percent podium success rate at the Cathedral of Speed with two second place finishes.

At the start of race two he found himself as far back as twelfth, but he fought hard and clawed his way up the pack and once again found himself locked in a battle for the win with title rival, JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam.

In both races Byrne pushed the ZX-10R rider hard, but Haslam had that extra pace to take the victory in both races today. The Panigale racer has labelled the start of the second race as the ‘worst start I have ever had in my career’ but he powered on and made sure Haslam was not going to close the gap even further in the overall standings. Now seventeen points separate the pair in the series table.

Advertisement

It was also the first time that Byrne has used the SC1 rear Pirelli tyre, and he showed that he can be strong even when he is not using his preferred SC0 softer compound tyre, and that pleased him at the track.

“I got the worst start I have ever had in my career and I let go of the clutch and the bike bobbed but it bobbed really big and that much I had to have another stab at the clutch, and it is quite sensitive on the bike and when I touched that it reared up - it was a disastrous start and cost us dear,” said Byrne at the circuit.

“I made some passes and got to the back of Richard Cooper and Richard is a tiny guy on a rocket of a bike and the combination of that and the Ducati needing the corner speed to keep the momentum up was not helping me.

“I could see there were five or six guys in front of me and Leon has to win in these races and I have to finish second. I made a pass on Richard and started moving up the order a bit and I got on the back of Leon and he is strong going into the last chicane and that is my weakest area on the track.

“We got to second place and I am really happy and feeling positive going into Brands Hatch. The weather condtiions in Assen forced us to use the harder tyre for the first time all this year and it’s only going to get cooler. You never know we might get some good weather at Brands and we might be able to run our preferred tyre and with that tyre we can be competitive. Assen has taught us a lesson and we learnt well.”

Click here for results

Articles you may like

Advertisement

More British Superbikes

Advertisement
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram