Reigning MCE British Superbike Champion Shane Byrne will begin the defence of his title in front of a home crowd at Brands Hatch this weekend after missing the opening two races.

Byrne crashed during warm-up at Donington Park and sustained a concussion which ruled him out of action. The Be Wiser Ducati man now has a 50-point gap to make up on Leon Haslam who won both races.

“I’m very hopeful of getting my title defence off to a far better start during round two at Brands Hatch than I did at Donington Park, that’s for sure! To be fair that shouldn’t be at all difficult seeing as a crash in warm up put me out of the round one races, so I’m a little behind having missed those races. But the plan is to make up for it in a big way this bank holiday weekend and where better than at my local circuit of Brands Hatch. I always enjoy racing there and am counting on plenty of support,” said Byrne.