Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne had a one hundred percent podium success record at the fifth round of the MCE British Superbike championship at Snetterton, with a first place finish in race two and third in the opening race.
Byrne now leads the series by four points from JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam, with his rival missing out on a podium finish this weekend. The multiple champ benefitted from a recent test at the 300 circuit, and had to battle from near the back of the pack after going wide, to push his way to a solid third place in race one.
He had already won seven times at this circuit in previous race meetings and made it eight after holding off the attacks from second place finisher Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot, to take maximum points in race two. The final outing of the day was red flagged after a crash involving Jenny Tinmouth and when the race came to a halt it was Byrne who was in the lead to round off a positive weekend for the Be Wiser team.
“We tested here two or three weeks ago and we had a good test and a good base to start from, and there was no messing about and straight into it and we knew what worked and to be fair the guys have done a great job with the bike and all I had to do is steer it,” said Byrne at the track.
“I was conscious to start off slow and I wanted to get the hole shot and to lead the race. But I didn’t want to destroy my tyre because in the first race coming from stone last from the end of the first lap I did twelve qualifying laps and got near the front and had nothing more to give and was very conscious to keep it steady and keep it smooth and not use the side of the tyre,” said Byrne at the track.
“I could see there was a group of four of us about six laps in, and then I went into the 48’s and then Dan [Linfoot] got on the back of me. Luckily enough I then got to the back straight and there were yellow flags being waved and the slippery surface flag and I went through some mud and nearly flicked myself off. But it was that big when I turned around and had a look I then had a bit of a gap and with four laps to go and I pulled again and thought just go for it and the tyre will hang in there, and go as fast as you can and then it was red flagged.”
