Reigning British Superbike Champion Shane Byrne got the worst of starts to his World Superbike title campaign at Phillip Island, crashing out of both legs.

The Sterilgarda Ducati man injured his hand in the first crash, which Byrne blames on an poor tyre, and he low-sided in the second race after trying to pass Jakub Smrz at Honda Corner.

"It was bad luck. I had a good start in race 1, but I noticed that the tyres were slipping in an odd way in the early laps. I tried to recover, but after seven laps I crashed.

"Although I had a hand injury, I didn't give up and started race two well. I had a pretty good start, but after 11 laps, while I was trying to overtake Smrz, I got very wide on the final corner. I tried to hold trajectory but the steering locked up and I crashed. Nevertheless, I started to understand how hard-fought the SBK is, especially in the first laps."