The HM Plant Honda team worked hard following yesterday’s qualifying session at Oulton Park, to secure a victory for Ryuichi Kiyonari in the opening race and a podium finish for Shane 'Shakey' Byrne, who now leads the overall standings at the second round of the British Superbike Championship.

In the opening race of the day Kiyo fought his way up the order to take the lead on the eleventh lap and then edge out an advantage over the chasing pack, whilst Shakey just missed out on a podium finish in fourth place. In race two Shakey was able to capitalise on the last lap and take a podium finish with a third place and with it, the championship lead by eleven points.

In the National Superstock 1000 Championship, Jason O’Halloran had a challenging race to finish fifth.

Kiyo said:

“Today I was happy with the first race, but not so much with the second race! We made an improvement with the setting over night and the team worked very hard so I have lots to thank them for. I had a better feeling with the bike today and I was quite surprised that all the riders were quite equal. I was happy to be winning again, but in race two we just couldn’t repeat it. I had a small problem and I couldn’t push as hard as I needed to. I couldn’t stay at the front but we scored consistent points which are so important and now we look for more at Croft.”


Shakey said:

“I am so pleased to have finished on the podium in the second race; after Saturday’s free practice sessions when we were running outside the top ten I would have taken the offer of a fourth and a third – in fact I would have bitten your arm of for it! The boys in the HM Plant Honda garage and at Motec did such a good job to get us up the sharp end today for the races. There were a couple of moments when I got a raw deal with riders heading off the track, but there were a few I also benefitted from. Everyone was jostling for positions out there and I was able to make the most of it and get the HM Plant Honda Fireblade on the podium. We really turned things around this weekend and to have the lead in the championship ahead of Croft is a good result after everyone’s hard work here at Oulton Park.”

Jason said:

“The race was ok but we just had a few issues that we hadn’t managed to overcome for today. We were struggling on some sections of the circuit, but we now know where we need to improve before the next round at Croft to bridge the gap. We just chipped away in the race and for me and the HM Plant Honda team we needed to ensure we scored consistent points for the championship which is what we achieved at the end of the day. We will now just get ready to be back up and fighting at Croft.”

Team Manger Havier Beltran concluded:

“The whole HM Plant Honda team have worked hard throughout the weekend to put both Kiyo and Shakey in a position to challenge for the wins and it paid off today. Kiyo had a great win in the first race and then Shakey was back on the podium in the second race and now leads the championship so both riders were consistent and that shows in the standings. In the Superstock class Jason again scored points which could prove critical later in the season. The team is now looking forward to the next round at Croft, the home round of our title sponsor HM Plant.”

The team returns to action at Croft, near Darlington in North Yorkshire in two week’s time, for round three from 13-15 May