Reigning MCE British Superbike Champion Shane Byrne would have liked more testing time ahead of this weekend's season opener at Brands Hatch despite being in one of a small number of teams that went abroad.

The three-time title holder says that right now he isn't 100 per cent ready to race but after practice and qualifying at the Kent circuit, he should be in a better position when the lights go out on Sunday.

"For the first time ever in my career I've stayed with my team from the year before and this year especially, we have proved the benefit of that consistency given the lack of testing. It's my same team, the same bike and even the same sponsors as last year but we could have done with some more testing," said Byrne, whose UK test program, like everyone else, was pretty much frozen over

"I'd be lying if I said we were 100 per cent ready to go racing but we'll do what we need to in practice at Brands Hatch and we will be ready to race on Sunday. One thing's for sure, we are much better prepared than some teams and I'm really looking forward to going racing again."

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