Shane 'Shakey' Byrne celebrated victory in the opening MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship race of the day at Oulton Park after holding off the challenges from Josh Brookes who closed to within 0.105s at the chequered flag.

The race started dramatically with Simon Andrews crashing out in spectacular style down the Avenue. The Nissan GT-R safety car was deployed as the Racesafe marshals cleared the debris after Byrne had hit the front of the pack from Brookes and James Ellison.

On the restart Ellison took the advantage and lunged ahead of the Milwaukee Yamaha with his first opportunity at old Hall, whilst behind Chris Walker crashed out of fourth place on the second Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki unhurt at Hizzys a few laps later.

Byrne held the lead but behind Brookes was shadowing Ellison and a mistake on the eleventh lap cost the Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki, when he went over the grass at Hizzys which put him back to third when he rejoined the track. The Australian then had his sights firmly on Byrne and as the laps ticked down so did the gap, with Brookes within striking distance after breaking the lap record. However it wasn't enough and he was forced to settle for second with Ellison holding third.

Ryuichi Kiyonari had come tantalisingly close to bridging the gap to the battle for third after scything through the field after passing Dan Linfoot and then Tommy Bridewell; however a technical problem saw him forced to retire before the end of the race. Bridewell was able to claim fourth ahead of Stuart Easton on the second Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki who held off Dan Linfoot and Richard Cooper on the Anvil Hire TAG Kawasaki. James Westmoreland, Jon Kirkham and Jakub Smrz completed the top ten.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Oulton Park, race one result:

Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)
Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.105s
James Ellison (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +6.183s
Tommy Bridewell (Milwaukee Yamaha) +8.781s
Stuart Easton (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +13.285s
Dan Linfoot (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +19.139s
Richard Cooper (Anvil Hire TAG Kawasaki) +19.226s
James Westmoreland (Buildbase BMW) +23.030s
Jon Kirkham (Tsingtao WK Kawasaki) +23.878s
Jakub Smrz (Millsport Ducati) +25.509s

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, standings after Oulton Park race one:

Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 75
James Ellison (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) 48
Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) 40
Chris Walker (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) 31
Stuart Easton (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 31



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