Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne had a challenging day at Oulton Park on Sunday with the five-times and defending champion scoring a best position of 7th in the two MCE British Superbike Championship races to slip back to third overall in the title chase.
Having qualified in second place on the factory-backed Be Wiser Ducati Panigale R for yesterday’s opening 18-lap race, which comprised the first round of the Showdown, the dynamics changed from a dry circuit to a wet one to give Byrne and his five other ‘Title Fighters’ more to contend with.
It started well for the Sittingbourne-based rider in the opening race as he slotted into fourth right in the wheel tracks of his Showdown rivals but it was soon clear all was not well and a misting visor meant he slipped back through the pack to end up ninth at the flag.
However, the result meant he was back on the fourth row for the second 18-lap encounter around the Cheshire circuit but was soon up inside the top ten and by lap five was up to seventh as he started to close in on the group of riders in front of him. By half race distance, he was one of the quickest riders on track and a podium position looked a possibility but a couple of mistakes, combined with a lack of grip towards the end of the race, saw him end up in seventh place.
Speaking after a tough weekend, Byrne said: “It’s a bit difficult to find the words at the moment and after having three poor rounds, I was feeling really positive coming into Oulton Park, especially after finishing first and second here in May.
“This was the part of the season I was looking forward to the most and where the real stuff was going to start but Friday was a disaster ending the day over a second off the pace. Fair play to the team, they turned the bike around for qualifying and it was only my mistake that cost us pole.
“We had a wet warm up today but I was quick and thought the race would be ok but after about three laps of the race, I was really struggling to see. I don’t know what caused it but I couldn’t see a thing and when I saw 10 laps to go on my pit board, my heart sank. I tried everything to clear the visor but ended up ninth whilst a poor lap time gave me a poor grid position for race two.
“I knew what I needed to do and got my head down but when you try hard like that, you end up making mistakes, which is what I did. I’m not even going to look at the points table but all I know is that things can change quickly in bike racing and this is far from over.”
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