It was very much a tale of two races for Kent’s Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne in the latest round of the MCE British Superbike Championship.

Going into the weekend on the back of his first win of the season last time out, Byrne was full of confidence heading into the weekend. He put his Be Wiser Ducati powered machine on pole position for race one.

Sadly for Shakey that was about as good as race one would get for the 39-year-old, as he once again made a sluggish start but worse was to follow when he crashed out on lap four at the Hairpin and although he was able to remount, regulations didn’t allow for him to continue in the race so he had to retire.

Unfortunately Jake Dixon from Dover who was making his BSB debut was caught up in the crash that would end both he and his manager’s race.

Race two saw contrasting fortunes once again for Paul Bird’s Penrith-based team with Shakey starting from row four as the weather took a turn for the worse. In the same extreme wet conditions which prevailed during Datatag Extreme Qualifying yesterday, it played into Byrne’s hands as he put in a superb performance. Running inside the top five as early as the first lap, he was soon locked in battle with Leon Haslam for the race win.

The duo swapped positions on numerous occasions but with five laps to go, Byrne reclaimed the lead and a series of quick laps enabled him to break the tow from the rest of the field to take his second win of the season.

It represented his 70th career MCE BSB race victory and an unprecedented 11th at Knockhill to maintain his second place in the standings, just 13 points behind leader Leon Haslam.

Speaking after the weekend, Byrne said: “The first race was disappointing and to have two crashes in a weekend isn’t like me so I was keen to make amends in the second race. Just before the start of race two, my mechanic reminded me it was a 30-lap race and there was plenty of time and opportunities to get to the front but it actually happened quite quickly.

“Leon was brave into the first corner but he started to have a few moments so that was when I upped my game. I felt really strong and with five laps to go, I got my head down and really pushed hard.

“I badly wanted to win the second race so to come back from the first race crash and turn things round in the way that I did is great. Knockhill’s been a good circuit to me over the years so a big thanks to the fans for staying out in the weather and also to the whole PBM Be Wiser Ducati team who again did a terrific job.”

Images courtesy of www.psp-images.co.uk