Kent’s Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne sealed the runners up spot in the 2015 MCE British Superbike Championship with a treble podium finish at Brands Hatch.

It is scant consolation for the four time champion who was hoping to take title number five this season, but found himself competing against an almost unstoppable Josh Brookes.

In Saturday’s opening race of the triple-header weekend and aboard the Be Wiser Insurance-backed PBM Kawasaki ZX-10R, Byrne gave it his all from start to finish whereby having qualified in fifth, the 38-year-old Londoner led for the first half of the race with title rival Josh Brookes scrapping it out with him.

Knowing nothing short of beating the Australian would do to take the title fight into the final day, Byrne rode one of the races of his life, but Brookes hit the front on lap 13 and proceeded to take the win ahead of Shakey meaning he had to hand over the number one plate.

With two more races today, Byrne was eager to sample victory and the opening 20-lap encounter followed a similar pattern to that of the previous day. Shakey led in the early stages until Brookes again hit the front but this time on the seventh lap. The duo again battled it out, but again, Byrne had to settle for second best behind his rival, although he did clinch second place in the series to make it two titles and two runner-up spots in the past four MCE BSB seasons.

Just one race remained of the 2015 season and it proved to be one of the best. With numerous riders scrapping it out for the lead, Brookes made an uncharacteristic error and crashed out on lap eight, leaving Shakey battling with Michael Laverty and James Ellison for the race win. Although there was less than half a second between the trio at the chequered flag, Shakey had to settle for third on this occasion in front of his adoring home fans.

Speaking after the flag fell on an entertaining season, Byrne said: “I gave it my all in the first race to try and keep the championship alive and there wasn’t much more I could do than that. We knew where the Yamaha would be good and unfortunately there wasn’t anything we could do about it!

“Today, there was a glimmer of hope as when he came by he wasn’t as ridiculously fast and I was able to hang in for a few more laps than before. However, there were a couple of sectors where Josh was just too strong, but I did my best.

“The championship was always going to be difficult this year, but the PBM team has been 100% behind me all the way so I gave it 100% and a bit more. Well done to Josh and Yamaha, championships aren’t handed to you and you don’t win as many races as what they’ve done without deserving it. We’ll come back next year and try our best to win it back.”

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