Round eight of the 2017 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship took place at a packed Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire this weekend and saw a mixture of emotions for Be Wiser Ducati rider Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne who took a podium in the opening race only to be denied a victory in race two due to a technical problem.
The five-times and defending champion from Sittingbourne started the opening 18-lap race from pole position on the factory-backed Be Wiser Ducati Panigale R and was running in second place when at Mansfield Corner on the second lap, he lost the front end and almost crashed, somehow saving the bike with his elbow. He only lost a couple of places but for the remainder of the race it was extremely close as less than two seconds covered the top eight riders.

Series leader Shakey found himself vying for a podium place for much of the race as he battled with Leon Haslam, Jake Dixon and Jason O’Halloran, but on lap 15 Byrne made the pass stick and although he tried to mount an attack for the victory, he had to settle for third position at the chequered flag.

Race two saw Byrne start from the front row once more and he soon slotted into third at the end of lap one. Once again, there was little to choose between the leading group of riders but, after moving up to second on lap nine, he grabbed the lead two laps later. Shakey then started to pull clear of the pursuing pack but on lap 13, he suffered a technical problem with the gear linkage and had to pull off the circuit at Mansfield.

Despite the set-back, Byrne still leads the series going into the triple-header at Silverstone whereby he remains favourite to clinch one of the six Showdown places to be decided at the Northamptonshire track in three weeks’ time.

Speaking after the weekend, Byrne said: “The first race was hard work but we made a change to the front end in morning warm-up which helped, although I almost crashed at Mansfield on the second lap. I somehow managed to save it with my elbow and it served as a little warning so I was happy to sneak a podium.

“All of the bikes were fairly equal so we tried to improve again for race two but coming out of the Gooseneck, the bike wouldn’t select a gear so I had to pull off. Obviously, it’s a massive shame and frustrating and it’s easy to be down and negative after giving away what I feel is a lot of points at the last two rounds but our time will come and we’ll see what we can do to improve for the final four rounds.”