Reigning MCE British Superbike Champion Shane 'Shakey' Byrne took his winning tally to an historic 50th career victory as he celebrated clinching his place in the end of season Showdown with another superb performance at round seven of the series at Oulton Park this weekend.
Aboard the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki ZX-10R, the Sittingbourne rider qualified for the weekend's triple header in a strong second place before opening his account with a close second behind James Ellison in Saturday's race, finishing just a tenth of a second behind his rival at the chequered flag.
However, with the fastest lap of the race, the triple MCE BSB champion started race two today from pole position before taking the lead on the eighth lap whereby he was never headed again despite coming under intense pressure from firstly Ellison and then Josh Brookes, but he held on to take his ninth victory of the season.
In the final race of the busy weekend, the 36-year-old had to give second best to Brookes but the points gained from the three races saw him extend his lead in the title race but significantly, increased the important Podium Credits to 33 with four more races to go before the all-important Showdown commences.
Team-mate Keith Farmer had the worst possible start to his weekend when a crash in Friday's free practice session destroyed his Minxflix supported Paul Bird Motorsport Kawasaki ZX-10R. The Penrith-based team worked wonders to repair the machine and the Clogher, Co Tyrone rider made it through to the final stages of qualifying only to crash out of the first race when a hose broke and sprayed water onto the rear tyre.
The team managed to repair the machine in time for him to start at the back of the grid whereby he battled to a well deserved 11th in the restart. Today, he improved further with seventh and eighth place finishes to keep himself in contention for the final Showdown spot.
Shane Byrne: "It's great to have finally got the 50th career win and with a large percentage of those having come on Paul's bikes; I'd like to dedicate that to him. He's been such an integral part of my career and it's great to be in the position we're in this year. The races were tough all weekend as we were all so evenly matched, Saturday's being a prime example where James was quicker in the first part of the lap and I was quicker in the second half. He could edge away to begin with so all I could do was close the gap without actually getting close enough to make a pass!
"That was in my mind today and I wanted to hit the front as soon as possible and stay smooth, which is how it panned out in the first race even if I couldn't pull away. I tried to adopt the same strategy in the final race but I used too much of my tyre in the first part of the race so that when Josh came by, I didn't have a lot to give. We've ended the weekend with a win and two seconds so it's been a good meeting for us."
Keith Farmer: "Friday's crash caused a lot of damage to the bike and it left me very stiff and sore for the races, today more so than Saturday whilst my confidence obviously took a huge hit. Things then went from bad to worse with a spill in Saturday's race and after that I just wanted to get some decent top ten finishes, with no heroics, so it was pleasing to achieve that and end the weekend positively. The team did a superb job to give me a brand new bike and the encouragement and advice from Paul meant a lot and allowed me to go out and ride how I wanted."
Paul Bird, Team Owner: "Shakey's landmark 50th career win shows what a true legend he is and we as a team are delighted for him. Now he's qualified for the Showdown we can concentrate on improving the bike and hope to add to the number of victories over the rest of the season. We could have done without Keith's crash on Friday but these things happen and fair play to the team for building a new bike and to him for bouncing back and scoring some good points over the weekend."
MCE British Superbike Championship Race 1 - 15 laps1 James Ellison (Yamaha)2 Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)3 Alex Lowes (Honda)4 Josh Brookes (Suzuki)5 Tommy Bridewell (Kawasaki)6 Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda)11 Keith Farmer (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)
MCE British Superbike Championship Race 2 - 18 laps1 Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)2 Josh Brookes (Suzuki)3 Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda)4 Tommy Bridewell (Kawasaki)5 Jon Kirkham (BMW)6 PJ Jacobsen (Suzuki)8 Keith Farmer (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)
MCE British Superbike Championship Race 3 - 18 laps1 Josh Brookes (Suzuki)2 Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)3 Alex Lowes (Honda)4 James Ellison (Yamaha)5 Tommy Bridewell (Kawasaki)6 James Westmoreland (BMW)7 Keith Farmer (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)
Championship Standings (after seven rounds)1 Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 297pts2 Brookes 2683 Lowes 2434 Ellison 1585 Kiyonari 1426 Kirkham 1269 Farmer (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 86
