Reigning MCE British Superbike Champion Shane 'Shakey' Byrne put in two of the bravest rides of his career at Silverstone today to maintain his lead in the title chase at the penultimate round of the 2013 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship.

The Rapid Solicitors and Minxflix-sponsored Kawasaki ZX-10R rider suffered a heavy spill in practice on Saturday morning in which he severely injured his hip and was only given clearance by the series medical personnel to attempt qualifying. Despite being unable to walk without crutches and being lifted onto his machine by his Penrith-based Paul Bird Motorsport team, the 36-year-old Londoner amazingly set second fastest time to start the first race of the penultimate round from the front row.

In front of a good sized crowd and in warm sunshine, both races were 14-lap epics as Byrne and season-long rival Alex Lowes battled throughout and although Lowes edged away in the early stages of the opener, Shakey dug deep in the closing stages to go into the final lap right on the back wheel of the Honda.

In true style, the triple MCE BSB champion took the lead half way round the lap only for Lowes to fight back and although Shakey tried his utmost to regain the lead on the run in to the line, he had to settle for second place albeit only 0.094 seconds adrift. But with the fastest lap of the race, Byrne would start race two from pole position to aid his cause.

The second race was almost a carbon copy as it all came down to a last lap shoot out once more. Again, Lowes appeared to have the race win sewn up as he defended his lead, preventing Byrne from an overtaking attempt, but Shakey had other ideas and cut a tight line through the final Woodcote corner.

They headed for the line almost together and as they crossed the line, a photo-finish soon revealed Byrne had snatched the victory by the narrowest of margins to clinch his tenth victory of the season and 51st of his career to maintain his slender one point lead in the title race heading to the final three races at his beloved Brands Hatch GP track in two weeks time.

For the second meeting in a row, team-mate Noriyuki Haga found himself the victim of another person's crash after he was taken out by a falling Dan Linfoot in the first race. It was particularly disappointing as the incident occurred on the first lap after the Japanese rider had made a good start, running comfortably inside the top eight. The second race offered little consolation as the winner of 43 World Superbike Championship races could only manage 14th place.


Shane Byrne:

"It's been a while since I've won a race and I'm absolutely ecstatic with the results this weekend. In the first race, I saw that Alex and I had opened up a bit of a gap so I just tried to concentrate on him and not worry about anything else. I made my move towards the end of the race but I messed up my drive onto the back straight and he was able to get back by me. I tried to turn the tables but we were touching fairings in fifth gear and the last thing either of us wanted was to end in up a heap! I had a rest and some physio in between races which helped and although I had a plan, going into the last lap, I wasn't sure what that was going to be. Alex wasn't giving me an inch but I managed to square the last corner off a little bit and nipped up the inside although it was obviously closer than I'd have liked. The races were always going to be tough this weekend but the crash obviously made them even tougher and whilst it wasn't comfortable out there I had to keep going for the entire race distance. We haven't come this far in the championship to give up at the last hurdle."

Noriyuki Haga:

"It's been a disappointing weekend but there's not a lot I can say about the first race. I made a good start and was hoping to make my way into the top six when I got hit from behind again. Having missed the entire first race, we then had no data to work with for the second one and the set-up wasn't quite how I would have liked so I was unable to finish inside the top ten. We have now agreed to change settings and hopefully, with three races at Brands Hatch, I'll be able to finish the season on a high as I really enjoy that track."


Paul Bird, Team Owner:

"Shakey has set new standards this weekend as it looked at one point as if he might not even race and we'd be going to Brands Hatch a bundle of points down on Alex. But the reason he's a triple British Champion is he never gives up and to achieve the results he has this weekend is the reason. In fairness, he should have had two wins but we'll settle for these results and take the fight to Brands Hatch. Nori has struggled with the bike this weekend and once again luck wasn't on his side in race one but he'll bounce back at Brands Hatch."

MCE British Superbike Championship Race 1 - 14 laps

1 Alex Lowes (Honda)
2 Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)
3 Tommy Bridewell (Yamaha)
4 PJ Jacobsen (Suzuki)
5 James Ellison (Yamaha)
6 Jon Kirkham (BMW)
DNF Noriyuki Haga (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)


MCE British Superbike Championship Race 2 - 14 laps

1 Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)
2 Alex Lowes (Honda)
3 Tommy Bridewell (Yamaha)
4 James Ellison (Yamaha)
5 Josh Brookes (Suzuki)
6 PJ Jacobsen (Suzuki)
14 Noriyuki Haga (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)


Championship Standings (after 11 rounds)

1 Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 604pts
2 Lowes 603
3 Ellison 562
4 Brookes 546
5 Westmoreland 534
6 Kiyonari 522
12 Farmer (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 93
23 Haga (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 13


Picture courtesy of Jon Jessop: Shakey celebrating his win on the podium

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