Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki rider Shane Byrne was surprised by the good start he had during the first MCE British Superbike race of the year. The triple champ led for most of the race but did get overtaken by Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Brookes, but the triple champ clawed back to regain the lead. But even though the Lambeth born rider was happy with his performance, he is looking to improve again for race two this afternoon.

“I got a better start than I anticipated, and found myself leading the race, but I didn’t want to lead with 30 laps to go, and you never really know until a couple of races in what the guys have in store for you. I followed Josh for ten laps, then I saw Keith go up to third place, then I thought may be it was a good time to push, then I made it past Josh. I upped the pace in the last laps, and from then on in it paid off," said the reigning BSB champion.

“I think there are a couple of improvements we can make to the bike for the next race and try and be more consistent towards the end of the race, and hopefully we can be a bit stronger in the next one. There will be some great battles this year, and now the nerves are out of the way I am looking forward to race two.”