Sittingbourne’s Shane Byrne was easily the star of the show at Silverstone in the MCE British Superbike Championship as he took a win and a second place despite being injured.

He took second place in race one having been barely able to walk following a crash in practice on Friday afternoon.

In race two it was a hell of a finish to the race that saw the Kent based rider take the victory over his rival Alex Lowes.

Race one was one hell of a battle between the two title contenders as Shakey got the drive off the line and lead briefly into the first corner.

Lowes then led for the majority of the race but he couldn’t shake the injured Byrne off as he looked to take the win and the championship lead.

On the last lap Shakey made his move and he took the lead, it looked as though he might be on to take a fantastic win, however Alex took the lead back towards the end of the lap and they crossed the line almost side by side.

Shakey had to settle for second place, an excellent result considering the crash that left Byrne on crutches in practise on Friday.

Speaking after race one an exhausted Shakey, said: “I am obviously a little bit tired after that race but the great thing about it was that Alex set a fantastic pace that we both got dragged away from the others. I had to concentrate on a couple sections of the track where I needed to be with him and it worked out really well. There was a point about half or three quarters of the way through the race when he upped his pace and I thought ‘for God’s sake, give me a break!'”

“We managed to go with him and at the end I made a pass and it was the first time that I had led out of the tight, new stadium section and I made a bit of a mistake as I was a little too keen to get a good drive. I ran into the second part of the corner way too fast and chased the throttle all the way out but Alex said after that I had made a mistake and I think I was so excited to be leading that I made the mistake!

“The last corner was absolutely incredible, Alex passed me last year at Luffield and he had the inside line there so I ran right out wide and stood my bike up to drive underneath him. We were literally millimetres apart, he was very strong and just pipped me for the win but if you had offered me this result yesterday I would have snapped your arm off. I will have more physio and some rest before race two and see what we can do then.”

In race two Shane started on pole position due to the fact he had the fastest lap of the first race of the weekend.

He led for the opening few laps before Alex Lowes took the lead back off him and looked to scamper off into the distance.

It was the case up until Shane took the lead again on lap nine of the weekend as he looked to be unbelievably on course for a victory.

Lowes took the lead back just a few laps together, but again he couldn’t shake off Byrne who was all over the back of his exhaust.

On the last lap they couldn’t be separated and Byrne looked all the way around the lap to try and get past the youngster on his Samsung Honda.

They couldn’t be separated and the came across the line together and Shakey took a fantastic victory on the line, what a fantastic race that was.

Speaking after race two an ecstatic and shattered, Shakey said: “It’s been a while since I’ve won a race and I’m absolutely ecstatic with the results this weekend. In the first race, I saw that Alex and I had opened up a bit of a gap so I just tried to concentrate on him and not worry about anything else. I made my move towards the end of the race but I messed up my drive onto the back straight and he was able to get back by me.

“I tried to turn the tables but we were touching fairings in fifth gear and the last thing either of us wanted was to end in up a heap! I had a rest and some physio in between races which helped and although I had a plan, going into the last lap, I wasn’t sure what that was going to be. Alex wasn’t giving me an inch but I managed to square the last corner off a little bit and nipped up the inside although it was obviously closer than I’d have liked.

“The races were always going to be tough this weekend but the crash obviously made them even tougher and whilst it wasn’t comfortable out there I had to keep going for the entire race distance. We haven’t come this far in the championship to give up at the last hurdle.”

It is all down to Brands Hatch and the final three races of the season now as Shakey leads the championship by one point from Alex Lowes. If you want to be there it is over the weekend of the 20^th and 21^st October.

Pictures supplied by Davies / PSP Images