A poor start saw Shakey wheelie off the line as lights wents out, dropping back from 3rd to 8th in the process. But he climbed back up through the field and on the last lap had closed right up to the leaders Bradley Ray (Buildbase Suzuki) and James Ellison (Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha). At the Melbourne Hairpin Shakey passed Ellison to take 2nd place. Although unable to stop Ray claiming his first ever Superbike win, Shakey still was able to open up his points account with 20 Championship and 3 valuable Podium points, finishing just 0.383s behind the winner.

Teammate Glenn Irwin, who crashed out of Free Practice 1 yesterday, lined up in 10th and fought his way to a 6th place finish.

In his first race on-board the Ducati Panigale R, Taylor Mackenzie (Moto Rapido Ducati) passed the chequered flag to claim the last championship point in 15th.

Race 2 is scheduled to start at 4:30pm tomorrow. Shakey and Irwin both start on the front row in 2nd and 3rd respectively, while Mackenzie improves on his Race 1 start position to line up on the 5th Row in 15th.

Shakey Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati #67) – 2nd

"Ever the optimist, I was happy to be on the grid because this time last year I wasn’t even here. But it [the wheelie of the line] definitely made things hard work and I dropped right back down the order. I was very conscious of the fact that it wasn’t overly hot, so tried to be really, really careful with the tyre coming through so that I had some tyre left at the end of the race.

It looked like at one point it seemed that these two [Ray and Ellison] were just too far away, but I thought, no, come on, just keep digging, keep digging, keep digging. All of a sudden, we were on them.

Bradley had a moment coming out of the Esses on the last lap and I saw James thought right this is my opportunity but I looked at the pair of them and thought, right this is it, this is my opportunity! I managed to get past James and then going up into the last corner I really thought about a move on Bradley but it would have been one of those last minute late lunges, fairing banging. And if I’d have ended up upside down and he did too after doing such a good race it would have been somewhat criminal. Even though we’re fellow Southerners I don’t think he’d of liked me very much. So, fair play to him, fair play to James. It’s been a tough race for me, I’m sure it would have been a little bit easier if I’d have started at the front with them. You know I’m happy to take 20 points, onwards and upwards for tomorrow."

Glenn Irwin (Be Wiser Ducati #2) – 6th

"It was good. Qualifying didn’t go to what our pace was. I had a better pace, as I proved in the race than what qualifying showed. I think we could have possibly worked our rea r tyre more. We didn’t seem to have as bad tyre wear as some others but then other people looked to have picked the optimum and our tyre looked quite new at the end. Which often you’d say that’s good but when it’s like that you just were never getting enough grip from it.I was losing a lot of time in the last corner where obviously I had my big highside yesterday. Losing going in as well. So, I just need to go out and fix it tomorrow basically.

Yesterday I was told by a doctor that I wouldn’t ride a bike for 6 months. He probably didn’t realise that bike riders are a bit different. I was thinking Brands, or maybe just after it. Yeah, we did find a broken bone in my neck, but it’s an old fracture. My back took quite a beating. But I said to the boys that’s no excuse because it was never ever going to hold me back. I felt strong out there. Just too many people to pass was my big thing. I used a lot of reserves and lost a little bit of time behind Leon as well. But well done to Shakey for getting a podium a strong Race 1 for the team."

Taylor Mackenzie (Moto Rapido Ducati #24) – 15th

"I was really happy. My goal coming into the weekend was to try and grab a point. Just because, I've had so little time on the bike and the team haven’t really had much time with me. It was always going to be a tough weekend.I made matters worse by having a slide of Craner Curves this morning. Credit to the team because they rebuilt the bike, it was covered in muck. So, the bike felt mint.  It took me a while to get into riding the bike because I’ve not done a full race on one. After sort of 10 laps I felt my rhythm a bit and managed to peg a few of the other riders back and sneak into the points. It was good."