Reigning MCE Insurance British Superbike Champion Shane 'Shakey' Byrne got his campaign off to a great start in the Showdown phase of the 2013 season with a superb second place in race one at Assen only to suffer a high speed crash in the second of the races at the legendary Dutch track.

Aboard the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki ZX-10R, the triple British champion held a narrow six point lead over rival Alex Lowes going into the first of the seven races which will decide the British Championship and slotted in behind Lowes on the grid for race one.

From there, a classic battle ensued between the major Showdown contenders and in a frantic last lap with multiple lead changes, Byrne had to settle for second place just behind Lowes meaning his lead was reduced to a single point.

Race two looked like shaping up into another classic with Shakey, from Sittingbourne, again dicing for the lead. However, on lap four, a misjudged manoeuvre from Lowes saw Byrne crash out at over 130mph, luckily without serious injury.

Lowes went on to win the race but race officials investigated the incident afterwards and subsequently excluded Alex for his part meaning the one point gap between Shakey and him remains going into Silverstone in two weeks time.

Meanwhile, Japanese ace Noriyuki Haga was making his debut for the for the Penrith-based PBM team at a track he has had much success at. Following a positive test at Snetterton last week, 'Nitro Nori' continued to work with his team on the Minxflix supported Paul Bird Motorsport Kawasaki ZX-10R and qualified in 13th place on the grid.

Race one soon saw him battling with the leaders and ended up in a creditable fifth place but like his team-mate, was the victim of an unwitting crash in race two when Tommy Bridewell lost the front end and took Nori down with him on lap four also.

Shane Byrne: "I'm OK, or OK as you can expect to be after crashing at 270kmh. Alex made a mistake but it's all cool, we let the officials decide what the outcome was as that's their job and we and our teams both respect that. It happened, the outcome is sorted and I'm just concentrating on getting myself fixed up in time for Silverstone."

Noriyuki Haga: "It was good to be back racing again and thanks to the PBM team for the opportunity. We are still working with the bike and we made some good progress in race one. In race two, I was feeling strong and then Bridewell crashed and took me out. This is racing and I'm looking forward to the next meeting now."

Paul Bird: "Everyone makes mistakes in racing and we accept that, just right now it's hard to take that my team is left with two crashed motorbikes to repair through the fault of others. The good part is Shakey and Nori are OK and we just left it to the officials to sort out as that is their job and we are satisfied with the outcome. We now look to the last two rounds and hope we have some better luck."

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship Race 1 - 18 Laps1. Alex Lowes (Honda)2. Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)3. Tommy Bridewell (Yamaha)4. Josh Brookes (Suzuki)5. Noriyuki Haga (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)6. Jakub Smrz (Honda)

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship Race 2 - 18 Laps1. James Ellison (Yamaha)2. PJ Jacobsen (Suzuki)3. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda)4. Jon Kirkham (BMW)5. James Westmoreland (BMW)6. Chris Walker (Kawasaki)DNF. Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)DNF. Noriyuki Haga (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship - Championship Positions after Assen (Round 10)1. Shane Byrne 5592. Alex Lowes 5583. James Ellison 5384. Josh Brookes 5355. Ryuichi Kiyonari 5226. James Westmoreland 519