Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne came out victorious in an epic MCE British Superbike race two win over Samsung Honda’s Alex Lowes and snatched his first victory since Oulton Park. The win has been a long time coming for the reigning champ and he was ‘desperate’ to win at Silverstone.
The rider did not have the best of starts to his weekend and suffered a heavy spill in practice on Saturday morning in which he severely injured his hip and was only given clearance by the series medical personnel to attempt qualifying. Despite being unable to walk without crutches and being lifted onto his machine by his Penrith-based Paul Bird Motorsport team, the 36-year-old Londoner amazingly completed the weekend with a second and first place finishes.
In the final race both rider’s headed for the finishing line almost together and as they crossed the line, a photo-finish soon revealed Byrne had snatched the victory by the narrowest of margins to clinch his tenth win of the season and 51st of his career to maintain his slender one point lead in the title race heading to the final three races at his beloved Brands Hatch GP track in two weeks time.
“This last race, I didn’t really have a plan as me and Alex were both on the limit but it was so much fun, I had a good run onto the Wellington straight, which I messed up in the first race and then Alex went a little bit wider and I pinged it and didn’t shut the throttle at all and fired through the last corner,” said Byrne, speaking at the circuit.
“I was desperate to win a race, as I hadn’t won since Oulton Park. I love to win races and I was not disappointed after the race win, and it was still a great second race and a win is a special feeling. Now on to Brands now for the final round.
“I have had a good run of results at Brands, but had some bad luck there too. I like Brands Hatch and it is close to my house, and I like Silverstone too. We just need to go to Brands and get some physio and get myself in to better shape for the last round."
