Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki rider Shane Byrne had an incredible qualifying session and set the fastest lap of 48.333 which places him on pole position for the opening MCE British Superbike race at Knockhill tomorrow. The rider is pleased with his progress and even clocked a time inside his own lap record set back in 2006. But the defending champ is still adamant that there is still work to do on his bike, to make it perfect for Sunday.

The Lambeth rider had to contend with Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Brookes who qualified in second on the grid after only being 0.010 seconds off the pace of Byrne, and the pole sitter said the charge from Brookes made him push just that little bit harder.

“I’m really pleased with this, my first flying lap was good, but then Josh Brookes came through and I thought I just had to go for it. I had a few moments on the lap, but here we are. I wanted to get that pole position for my wife Petra who is unwell; hopefully that will give her something to smile about and thanks to everyone for sending her their best wishes,” said Byrne.

“Our race pace is good but we have a bit of work to do and a few little tweaks to make to perfect it for the race, but to come here and do this, ahead of teams who have tested here before, is good and we are in pretty good shape for the races.”