As the Bennetts British Superbike Championship got underway for 2018, it was a solid opening weekend for reigning champion Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne.

The Sittingbourne based rider, started the opening race of the weekend from third place on the grid and finished in second place, and then on a damp track on Sunday afternoon he finished in fifth.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for the six times champion, when he roared away at the start with a massive wheelie that saw him drop back into the pack, and have to work his way through the field once again.

This was something that he had to do on a regular basis in 2017, and as the race reached half distance, he started to carve his way through the field, until he took second place from James Ellison two corners from the chequered flag.

Speaking after race one, a pleased Byrne said: “It hasn’t been the easiest of weekends so far with the weather and cold temperatures and qualifying was particularly tricky as I had a number of moments.

“We made a slight mistake, but I was reasonably happy with the front row of the grid, but all the hard work disappeared when the bike went vertical the moment I dropped the clutch. I lost a lot of ground, but I didn’t panic and stayed calm. I kept chipping away and made some good moves forward and I was being very careful not to use too much of the tyre, so I still had some left at the end.

“In that sense, I managed the race well and having overtaken James, there was a chance to go for the win, but it would have been a bit of a lunge and I obviously didn’t want to go down myself or take out Brad. It was a good, fun race and I’ve come away with 20 points so a big thanks to the team, it’s a positive way to start the season.”

The Sunday afternoon race in damp conditions saw the man they all want to beat start from second on the grid, and once again his start wasn’t the best.

He was swallowed up by the pack and had to work his way up from seventh, sitting behind Danny Buchan in fifth place for much of the race. With a couple of laps to go he did have a look at Buchan but he couldn’t make the move stick as he ran out onto the damp part of the track.

As the Ducati and the Kawasaki raced towards the line it was Buchan who managed to keep the more experienced Byrne at bay.

Speaking after the weekend, Byrne said: “It was quite a difficult day today with the weather, but it was great to end up with a dry race. I wanted to go one better than what I did yesterday, but I also had it in my head that the last two rookies to win, went on to do a double although I was mindful of not thinking about that too much!

“As it turned out, that’s what happened so massive congratulations to Brad, his commitment in the damp conditions on the opening laps was something else. I made a few mistakes during the race and as soon as you were off line, it was very tricky.

“You can’t win the championship at the first round, but you can lose it and to end the weekend second overall with some good points isn’t a bad place to be in.”

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