Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne clinched his ninth MCE British Superbike win of the season after doing the double at Donington Park, and setting a brand new lap record in the process, with a 1’28.896.
The Panigale rider now leads the series by 27 points from JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam. The ZX-10R racer was duelling with Byrne for the lead and looked to be well in contention for the victory but he crashed at Redgate with six laps remaining, and Byrne pushed on ahead to win maximum points at the Leicestershire track.
With Haslam out of the points Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot was able to match the pace of the PBM machine and made it on to the rostrum to end the final race in second. Showdown spoiler, Christian Iddon rode a hard fought twenty laps and held on to claim the last step on the podium.
Haslam was not the only title fighter to experience a DNF. Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran fell uninjured at the Old Hairpin and was naturally frustrated with his zero points haul in race two. Fellow Showdown rider’s James Ellison and Luke Mossey crossed the finishing line in seventh and eighth respectively.
In a repeat of the opening race it was Ellison who once again had a stellar start and made his way to the front ahead of Haslam and Byrne. But there was drama on the first lap as Showdown contender, O’Halloran crashed, and was unable to replicate his earlier podium success.
On lap nine of twenty the dicing trio pulled away from Linfoot and had a two second advantage over the Northerner and fellow title fighter. When it came to tyre choices, Haslam decided to remain with the harder front and rear compounds. The Fireblade’s went with the SC2 front and zero rear, whereas Mossey decided to ride with SC1’s on the front and rear of his ZX-10R.
But the battle intensified on lap eight as Byrne edged past at the Foggy Esses, only for Haslam to fight back at the Melbourne Loop and the trio nearly touched bikes and could of collided, but everyone stayed on and Haslam went into the lead.
The four-time champ was not giving up and retook the lead at Melbourne, but Haslam’s good form was not to last and he experienced his first crash of the season at Redgate, paving the way for Byrne to soar on ahead with six laps to go.
With Haslam out of podium contention it pushed Linfoot and Iddon into the top three. But Ellison appeared to have an issue as he dropped back to seventh and his lap times got considerably slower on the penultimate lap.
At the flag, Peter Hickman was the highest finishing JG Speedfit Kawasaki machine in fourth, with Buildbase BMW’s Richard Cooper rounding off the top five. McConnell, Irwin, Jackson, Smrz, Laverty, Easton and Iannuzzo were the last of the points finishers.
It was the first time this season that Stuart Easton finished inside the top fifteen on the Moto Rapido Ducati, and Iannuzzo once again claimed a point for only the second time today.
O’Halloran was not the only faller, as Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Filip Backlund high-sided coming out of Coppice, in what is his second crash of the day. ePayMe Yamaha’s John Hopkins had smoke coming out of his R1 whilst in tenth and the black and orange flag appeared with four rotations remaining and the American retired to the pits.
There was no Anvil Hire TAG Racing’s James Rispoli on the starting grid as his bike was too damaged after crashing during the opening race.
