Brands; Byrne Ignores Pain To Win Again
Added on Sunday, June 22nd, 2003 by Carole Nash Editor
Brands; Byrne Ignores Pain To Win Again
This from the Monstermob Ducati team;
BYRNE INCREASES LEAD AT BRANDS
MonsterMob Ducati rider Shane Byrne battled through the pain barrier to increase his lead in the British Superbike Championship with another superb performance at his home track at Brands Hatch today.
Suffering from injuries sustained in a crash on Friday, the 26 year old from Minster, Isle of Sheppey, kept up his winning streak with his eighth successive victory in the opening race of the day after a race long battle with Suzuki’s John Reynolds.
But his hopes of going into the record books with a history making ‘quadruple double’ were dashed when Reynolds claimed victory with a last corner manoeuvre to outdrag ‘Shakey’ to the flag.
“Those have been the hardest races of my career and I really struggled but to increase my lead when it looked as if I may not be racing is a bonus. Its disappointing not to get the record but I’ll just have to make sure I win more races than anyone else for the rest of the year.”
Byrne’s lead now stands at 133 points at the half distance stage of the season.
For team mate Stuart Easton, it was also a visit to the rostrum aboard the 748 Ducati.
The 18 year old Scot posted third place after a race long Supersport battle to consolidate his second place in the championship.
“A five week lay off didn’t help as I was a little race rusty but I clawed my way back. I felt good in the early stages but struggled for grip later on, but it could have been worse.”
Team boss Paul Bird commented “On Friday we didn’t think Shakey would be racing today, so to come away with a win and a second place is fantastic, all credit to him and the team. Stuart rode well but we need him to start winning soon if we want to hold onto that particular title”.
Superbike Results;
Race One;
1, Shane Byrne (MonsterMob Ducati) 30m54.420s, 2, John Reynolds (Suzuki) 30m54.597s, 3, Steve Plater (Honda) 30m58.526s, 4, Gary Mason (Yamaha) 30m58.585s, 5, Steve Hislop (Yamaha) 31m01.359s, 6, Glen Richards (Kawasaki) 31m01.811s, 7, Scott Smart (Kawasaki) 31m02.136s, 8, John McGuinness (Ducati) 31m06.353s, 9, John Crawford (Ducati) 31m11.581s, 10, Lee Jackson (Kawasaki) 31m13.146s.
Race Two
1. John Reynolds (Suzuki) 29m08.941s, 2, Shane Byrne (MonsterMob Ducati) 29m09.063s, 3, Michael Rutter (Ducati) 29m24.710s, 4, Sean Emmett (Ducati) 29m26.996s, 5, Glen Richards (Kawasaki) 29m27.661s, 6, Gary Mason (Yamaha) 29m27.826s, 7, Steve Hislop (Yamaha) 29m34.923s, 8, Steve Plater (Honda) 29m42.531s, 9, Scott Smart (Kawasaki) 29m44.873s, 10, Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 29m45.420s.
Superbike Championship Standings after Round 6
1: Shane Byrne (MonsterMob Ducati) 285pts
2: Michael Rutter (Ducati) 152pts
3: John Reynolds (Suzuki) 145pts
4: Glen Richards (Kawasaki) 131pts
5: Steve Plater (Honda) 117pts
5: Gary Mason (Yamaha) 117pts
7: Steve Hislop (Yamaha) 111pts
8: Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 103pts
9: John Crawford (Ducati) 74pts
10: Scott Smart (Kawasaki) 72pts
