Byrne claims double success

Shane Byrne scorched to his first win double of the season in his home seventh round of the British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch.

Byrne headed off Josh Brookes and reigning title-holder Tommy Hill in the two races.

The two-times champion took charge of each race with a lightning start and apart from a brief spell on the opening lap, when Michael Laverty nosed his Samsung Honda into the lead, Byrne and his Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki were never headed.

Byrne was quick to praise the efforts of his team for their work on his bike, saying: "These wins are down to real hard work by my team.

"The big thing is that the team got to the bottom of some of the problems we had been having earlier on in the season - now we are getting the punch out of the corners and that is so important.

"I was riding as hard as I could all of the way - Josh kept me honest out there. It was a case of being as precise and careful as possible, especially in the second race when Josh came at me on the outside at Paddock but I held him off.

"Then I had a bit of a wobble at Surtees, then missed a gear in the closing stages and I thought they were going to do me, but I held on."

Byrne has now moved into second place in the overall standings on 255 points, 11 down on Swan Yamaha's Hill who finished both races in third place.

Brookes, twice second, slipped to third in the rankings, but the Australian Tyco Suzuki rider conceded: "There was nothing I could do about it - 'Shakey' (Byrne) was just too good on the day."