Shakey claims his second consecutive double victory at Brands Hatch
Double win at Brands Hatch for Shakey Byrne
Byrne leads championship by 29 points
John Hopkins gains points in both races
Glen Irwin struggles for pace with injury
Despite rumours of wet weather causing havoc, Race 2 at the Brands Hatch GP circuit remained dry, with Shakey making the most of his devastating lap-times to claim his second race win of the weekend and second double win on the trot.
Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne got a much better start in Race 2, maintaining his 2nd place position behind Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) as the riders entered Druids for the first time. Determined not get caught in the pack, he made a move on Linfoot into Hawthorns to take the race lead on the opening lap.
Shakey went on to break the lap-record on Lap 2 and it was only Josh Brookes (Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha) who looked like he could take the fight to Shakey. Both riders were on another level and by Lap 6 the riders had pulled a 2 second lead over the rest of the field.
But Brookes crashed out on Lap 9, taking the pressure of Shakey at the front. By half-race distance the Be Wiser Ducati rider had amassed a dominant 4.899s lead. He continued to manage his tyres and the gap at the front to bring his Panigale R home for the race win – his 2nd victory of the day, 2nd double victory in a row and his 82nd career victory. His two wins also saw him crowned ‘King of Brands’ for a 2nd consecutive year.
John ‘Hopper’ Hopkins (Moto Rapido Ducati) was unable to better his Race 1 result and crossed the chequered flag in 11th, less than a second behind Jake Dixon (RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki) but almost 13 seconds ahead of Tommy Bridewell (Team WD-40 Kawasaki) behind him in 12th.
Shakey’s Be Wiser Ducati teammate Glenn Irwin had been running in 16th for most of the race, but despite carrying injury was able to pass Taylor Mackenzie (Bennetts Suzuki) and Billy McConnell (Quattro Plant FS-3 Kawasaki) in the dying laps to finish in 14th and pick a couple of hard-fought championship points.
After his two race wins today Shakey now leaves Brands Hatch leading the British Superbike Championship for the first time this season, with a total of 190 points. Glenn Irwin sits 11th in the championship with 65 points, with Hopper behind him in 12th with 62 points.
Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne (Be Wiser #67) – 1st
“I started on the front row and got a good start for once which was lovely. Very quickly got into the lead and just thought ‘go for it’. I got my head down and ran a pretty fast race. 25 flat, 25.1, 25.2… consistently fast.
We’ve been working really hard this weekend to improve the package and we’ve done just that I think. We’ve had a really consistent bike all weekend and hopefully we can take that now to Thruxton and try and repeat this again.”