Shane Byrne won an historic sixth MCE British Superbike title after a dramatic final race at Brands Hatch. The Panigale rider finished in eighth in race three and after Leon Haslam crashed out of contention for the series victory it paved the way for the Be Wiser rider to clinch another record breaking title.
For Byrne this is a moment that he has dreamt of and at one point he felt that he may not be able to win the championship, but after topping the free practice sessions and winning both races one and two, only two points separated Byrne and Haslam in the final event.
Title fighter, Josh Brookes won the third race and finished second in the overall standings, but Byrne won his sixth title with only a three point advantage over the Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha rider. Byrne won seven races in 2017, and it has been one of his worst seasons, but he is ‘over the moon’ to win another BSB championship.
“This has been my worst season overall and I have only won seven races and I have not one that few since 2002 maybe so hasn’t been a great year at all and I came into this round thinking this is my favourite track I was wanted to enjoy riding my motorbike and see what the weekend brings us,” said Byrne, speaking at the track.
“I topped all three practice sessions and the outright last record in qualifying and then to win the race the advantage was halved. I went to bed last night and as corny as it sounds I dreamt about this moment and I didn’t think it was going to happen going into the weekend.
“There was no way that Leon Haslam was going to give up. When he started form the fourth row and got in front of me immediately so right just sit there and then he had that big crash at Hawthorns and that really threw me. Then a couple of guys came past me and with eighth or ten laps to go it took so long and it really dragged on. We got it done and thanks to the team and Ducati and I am absolutely over the moon to defend the title and it is absolutely amazing.”
