The seemingly unstoppable Shane Byrne has taken his Airwaves Ducati to the win in this afternoon's first British Superbike race at Brands Hatch.
The local man worked his way through the field and eventually crossed the line with a two-second advantage from Rizla Suzuki's Tom Sykes and the injured Cal Crutchlow.
Crutchlow's HM Plant Honda team-mate Leon Haslam had a poor start and was running in tenth on the first lap but successfully battled his way up to the fourth place on lap eight. Leon Camier who was running in fifth continued to put pressure on Haslam until he ran a bit wide running onto the grass allowing Haslam to pull away. Once he had a clear track in front of him, he was able to run the same times as the leading group.

Camier had a successful ride after suffering two mechanical faults this morning in prior and during the practice session, which now obviously has been resolved. Byrne was swallowed up at the start but recovered to move up through the pack to third on lap three and setting the fastest time of 1'27.2s. Shakey made his first move on Tom Sykes on lap nine where he had a tighter line than Sykes at Graham Hill Bend, but ran wide which allowed Sykes to retake second.

Byrne was all over Cal Crutchlow on lap 15 for the lead. He went up the inside of the Honda at Surtees and Crutchlow went wide also giving second place to Sykes. This was still a tremendous ride with a dislocated ankle from a mere seven days ago.
It was a disappointing result for the North West 200 Ducati team. Michael Rutter crashed out on lap twelve while chasing James Ellison who crossed the finish line seventh place.

The battle of the race was within the Superbike Cup who were grouped together. On lap 17 it was all change as three riders independently crashed out including Luke Quigley, Tom Tunstall and Steve Mercer.

Steve's bad luck continues making this an extremely disappointing result for him and yet more rebuilding. Prior to the race he said: "I changed the stock at Oulton and I've highsided three times now and on the left side. I've never highsided on the left hands side. So we've changed it back, I'm still positive about today. I know in my head I can beat these guys I just need to stay on the bike."
Finally the top three places were taken by Chris Burns who moved up from fifth to eventually take the win on his MV Agusta. Martin Jessopp who in a last aggressive dash to the line jumped from fourth to second ahead of third place John Laverty.
Bennetts British Superbikes - conditions dry

1 Shane Byrne Airwaves Ducati 29.24.345
2 Tom Sykes Rizla Suzuki 29.26.200
3 Cal Crutchlow HM Plant Honda 29.27.456
4 Leon Haslam HM Plant Honda29.28.232
5 Leon Camier Airwaves Ducati 29.29.341
6 James Ellison Hydrex Honda 29.40.160
7 Stuart Easton MSS Kawasaki 29.40.990
8 Billy McConnell MSS Kawasaki 29.50.791
9 Simon Andrews Jentin Yamaha 29.54.729
10 Tristan Palmer Tena Honda 29.58.073
11 Scott Smart Hawk Kawasaki 29.59.368
12 Atsushi Watanabe Rizla Suzuki 29.59.532
13 Guy Martin Hydrex Honda 30.06.810
14 Chris Burns STP MV Agusta 30.13.538
15 Martin Jessopp Riders Honda 30.18.751