Kent’s Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne kicked off the showdown in style with a double victory at Donington Park in the first round of the season finale at the weekend. 

Having qualified the factory-backed Be Wiser Ducati in second place for the opening 20-lap race, the 39-year-old Londoner took a commanding victory in both races to draw first blood in the title-deciding Showdown part of the season for Paul Bird’s Penrith-based team.

In glorious sunny conditions, the four-times champion completed the first lap of race one in third place after overhauling Christian Iddon and a lap later he was up to second. Wasting no time, Shakey then overtook arch rival Leon Haslam at the Esses and by half race distance, he began to stretch the gap.

Aided by a new lap record, his advantage went above half a second for the first time on lap 12 and he added to his advantage over the next few laps. At three-quarters race distance, his lead was up to 1.2s and he wasn’t to be denied his eighth win of the season, taking the chequered flag a dominant 7.2s clear of Haslam.

Starting from pole position for the second race later in the day, Byrne slotted into third place in the early stages behind the Kawasaki duo of Haslam and James Ellison but another new lap record saw him close in and on lap eight he moved up to second, overtaking Ellison at the Old Hairpin. However, a near coming together soon after at the Melbourne Loop with Haslam dropped him back to third.

Regrouping, he got back up into second place a lap later and then set about closing the gap to race leader Haslam. On the twelfth lap, he took the lead for the first time and moments later Haslam crashed out at Redgate, which gave Shakey a second lead over Dan Linfoot. He slowly pulled away from the Honda rider and despite a scare at Goddards on lap 17 he swept home for his 77th career win to seal a brilliant double and take firm control of the championship going into the penultimate round at Assen in a fortnight.

Speaking after the weekend, Byrne said: “My strategy for race one depended on what Leon’s tyre choice was as I know he’s very good at managing his tyre life and making the harder tyre work. Seeing him choose the SC1 harder tyre, I went for the softer option and decided I needed to get to the front as soon as I could and get into a rhythm so as not to hammer the tyre too much and lose time in the latter stages of the race.

“It all went to plan so big thanks to my crew chief Giovanni and the team for doing a great job. The increase in temperature was a big factor in today’s results and the weekend has been so good for us as I’m able to make the softer tyre last so it was a similar strategy for the second race. Once again, I knew I needed to get to the front as early as possible and although it took me a bit longer second time around, once I did, I kept my head down and maintained a sensible rhythm. I wasn’t 100% sure Leon had crashed out but I’m sure he’ll be back at the front at Assen so we’re not counting our chickens yet.”

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