Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki's Shane Byrne took the win in this afternoon's first MCE British Superbike race at Brands Hatch as a flash of rain, which brought out the red flags, dampened the track at Clearways and Alex Lowes crashed out as he lost the front.

Byrne led from start to finish and has increased his lead over Tyco Suzuki's Josh Brookes who finished in third place behind a resurgent Tommy Hill on the Swan Yamaha who took full advantage of Lowes' mistake.

Reigning champion still has a mathematical chance of retaining his number one spot but it will take a series of mistakes from Byrne and Brookes in order for the Surrey carp-botherer to make back the 47 points. Lowes is a further two points behind Hill.

Brookes suffered with brake fade in the first third of the race and sipped back from a podium place to fifth behind Hill and Stuart Easton who rode incredibly as the flyweight Scotsman still isn't up to full race fitness and can't move around on the bike as much as he needs to.

Easton managed to keep Hill and Brookes behind him until the closing stages when the Swan Yamaha man stuck it underneath Easton at Paddock Hill and Brookes didn't waste any time in following his title rival through.

Michael Laverty was in the mix early on but ran off track and slipped back to tenth place. The result means Laverty's challenge for the title is now over, as it is for Tommy Bridewell who crashed yesterday and had to have a skin graft in hospital late last night.

The Devizes swearbox still managed a creditable seventh behind Barry Burrell on the Buildbase BMW while Noriyuki Haga bagged eighth ahead of the Samsung Honda pairing of Jon Kirkham and Laverty.

Grid for race two:

Lowes (pole), Byrne, M Laverty, Burrell

Westmoreland, Brookes, Easton, Hill

Championship points:

Byrne 633

Brookes 615

Hill 586

Lowes 584

Laverty 565

Bridewell 553

MCE British Superbike race one - conditions dry

1 67 Shane BYRNE GBR Kawasaki - Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki 15 21:49.663 100.32 1:26.571 12

21 Tommy HILL GBR Yamaha - Swan Yamaha 14 20:26.497 1 lap 1 lap 99.99 1:26.953 2

32 Josh BROOKES AUS Suzuki - Tyco Suzuki 14 20:26.592 1 lap 0.095 99.98 1:26.889 2

4 27 James WESTMORELAND GBR Honda - Team WFR 14 20:27.738 1 lap 1.146 99.88 1:26.762 11

5 3 Stuart EASTON GBR Kawasaki - Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki 14 20:27.838 1 lap 0.100 99.88 1:26.913 7

6 77 Barry BURRELL GBR BMW - Buildbase BMW Motorrad 14 20:27.978 1 lap 0.140 99.86 1:26.644 7

7 46 Tommy BRIDEWELL GBR BMW - Supersonic Racing Team 14 20:32.138 1 lap 4.160 99.53 1:27.243 9

8 41 Noriyuki HAGA JPN Yamaha - Swan Yamaha 14 20:38.328 1 lap 6.190 99.03 1:27.389 7

9 10 Jon KIRKHAM GBR Honda - Samsung Honda 14 20:38.379 1 lap 0.051 99.03 1:27.315 7

10 7 Michael LAVERTY GBR Honda - Samsung Honda 14 20:38.601 1 lap 0.222 99.01 1:26.613 9

11 24 Patric MUFF SUI BMW - Supersonic Racing Team 14 20:38.773 1 lap 0.172 98.99 1:27.325 4

12 68 Karl HARRIS GBR Kawasaki - Quattro Plant Kawasaki Superbike Team 14 20:41.247 1 lap 2.474 98.80 1:27.333 7

13 4 Michael RUTTER GBR Kawasaki - MSS Bathams Kawasaki 14 20:41.897 1 lap 0.650 98.75 1:27.551 4

14 18 Mark AITCHISON AUS Aprilia - Splitlath Redmond 14 20:45.046 1 lap 3.149 98.50 1:27.903 8

15 96 Jakub SMRZ CZE Aprilia - Splitlath Redmond 14 20:45.440 1 lap 0.394 98.46 1:27.962 13

16 5 Jason O'HALLORAN GBR Honda - Padgetts Honda 14 20:46.612 1 lap 1.172 98.37 1:27.673 7

17 33 Tristan PALMER GBR Honda - GBmoto Racing 14 20:48.938 1 lap 2.326 98.19 1:28.188 13

18 14 John LAVERTY GBR Kawasaki - Pr1mo Bournemouth Kawasaki Racing 14 20:49.424 1 lap 0.486 98.15 1:28.263 7

19 34 Alastair SEELEY GBR Suzuki - Tyco Suzuki 14 20:53.175 1 lap 3.751 97.86 1:28.309 5

20 53 Alex POLITA ITA Ducati - Lloyds British / Ducati Coventry 14 20:53.904 1 lap 0.729 97.80 1:28.578 2

21 52 Nick WATERS AUS Kawasaki - Quattro Plant Kawasaki Superbike Team 14 21:12.326 1 lap 18.422 96.38 1:29.490 4

22 21 Tom TUNSTALL GBR Honda - Doodson Motorsport 14 21:12.734 1 lap 0.408 96.35 1:29.668 6

23 8 Jenny TINMOUTH GBR Honda - Hardinge Sorrymate.com Honda 14 21:34.844 1 lap 22.110 94.71 1:31.181 13

NOT CLASSIFIED

DNF 22 Alex LOWES GBR Honda - Team WFR 14 20:21.657 1 lap 100.38 1:26.317 7

DNF 99 Luca SCASSA ITA Honda - Padgetts Honda 8 13:30.472 7 laps 6 laps 86.46 1:27.914 5

DNF 127 Robbin HARMS DEN Honda - Doodson Motorsport 6 10:33.801 9 laps 2 laps 82.92 1:27.733 4

DNF 9 Chris WALKER GBR Kawasaki - Pr1mo Bournemouth Kawasaki Racing 6 21:35.419 9 laps 11:31.718 40.57 1:28.635 2

DNF 83 Danny BUCHAN GBR Kawasaki - MSS Bathams Kawasaki 5 7:47.895 10 laps 1 lap 93.60 1:28.280 4

DNF 36 Abdulaziz BINLADIN KSA Ducati - Moto Rapido Racing 5 9:33.431 10 laps 4.764 76.38 1:32.383 2

DNF 51 Luke QUIGLEY GBR Honda - GBmoto Racing 4 6:04.285 11 laps 1 lap 96.18 1:28.466 4

DNF 60 Peter HICKMAN GBR BMW - Buildbase BMW Motorrad 2 3:02.581 13 laps 2 laps 95.95 1:28.103 2

DNF 88 Scott SMART GBRDucati - Moto Rapido Racing 0