James Ellison has admitted he was caught out by Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne on the final lap of today’s Bennetts British Superbike Championship race.

The Anvil TAG Hire Yamaha rider had led the earlier part of the 18-lap race at Donington Park, before being passed by eventual winner Bradley Ray on the sixth lap.

And despite holding second and keeping in close contact with the Buildbase Suzuki for the rest of the race, he lost out two corners from home when Byrne passed him at the hairpin.

“It was the start I wanted. It was a good pace at the front, I was quite happy in the lead and when I saw Brad pass me I was quite happy with that because I didn’t know what pace to set,” he revealed.

“He got fast and was actually putting down a really strong pace and was actually really difficult to keep up with in a lot of areas.

“I was just trying to keep calm. He was really strong going into the Fogarty Esses and I knew if I passed him before that he’d surely pass me back again on the last lap.

“My plan was to sit behind him and try at the Melbourne loop because I knew it was his weakest point. Of course he stuck his leg out so I couldn’t go to the inside so I went to the outside.

“Then this Ducati appeared on the inside out of nowhere. It caught me out a bit.

“Shakey was pushing really, really hard and managed to reel us in. I was a bit disappointed to not challenge Bradley at the end of the race but he put a fantastic race together and deserves the win.”