Shane Byrne brought up his seventh win in ten races to strengthen his position at the top of the British Superbike Championship standings. After finishing a disappointing third in race one behind Alex Lowes and Josh Brookes, Byrne responded with a lights-to-flag victory in race two, the 48th of his BSB career.
Byrne accepted the blame for the poor showing in the first race, admitting he made the wrong tyre choice, but thanked the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki team for giving him the package to beat Lowes in the second.
“The first race was absolutely dreadful and whilst I could ride round at 60%, going at 61% would have spelt disaster as the front end was awful and I just couldn’t get the feel I wanted. I normally use the softer front tyre but we made a gamble which didn’t pay off so it required some major changes in between the races. Fair play to the boys in the team, they gave me a bike for the second race that allowed me to do what I wanted with it and whilst I wasn’t happy after the first race, they put a smile back on my face after the second.”
Lowes had ended Byrne’s three race winning streak earlier in the day with a tremendous victory which included quick-fire moves on both Byrne and Brookes to take the lead. Despite following Byrne home for a strong second in race two, Alex was left to rue a disastrous start from pole position which would eventually deny him a double.
“It would have been nice to take a double win and I pushed as hard as I could, but in the second one I couldn’t take my normal lines for some reason and nearly clipped Byrne twice. I worked so hard after a nightmare Friday putting in a lot of laps and the team gave me a fantastic bike. The first race was hard work but it was also good fun and I was comfortable so it felt good to win. I made a pretty terrible start to the second race but felt good sitting behind Byrne. I tried and wanted to take him but I never quite got there. I learned a lot from him over the final five laps, pushed as hard as I could and I’m not complaining taking two podiums here.”
Brookes’ wait for a first win in 2013 goes on but he still sits second overall, 32 points behind Byrne and three ahead of Lowes while James Ellison remains a solid fourth after accumulating twenty points on Sunday. Ryuichi Kiyonari’s revival continued to gather momentum as two top-five finishes lifted him into the showdown positions ahead of Jon Kirkham whose afternoon ended with a horrible crash in race two. The Buildbase BMW rider escaped serious injury though and holds on to the vital sixth place, just ahead of teammate James Westmoreland.
| 2013 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riders’ Championship Standings After Round 5: Snetterton 300 | |||||
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Team | Wins | Pts |
| 1 |  Shane Byrne |
Kawasaki | Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki | 7 | 207 |
| 2 |  Josh Brookes |
Suzuki | Tyco Suzuki | 175 | |
| 3 | Alex Lowes |
Honda | Samsung Honda | 2 | 172 |
| 4 | James Ellison |
Yamaha | Milwaukee Yamaha | 1 | 100 |
| 5 |  Ryuichi Kiyonari |
Honda | Samsung Honda | 83 | |
| 6 | Jon Kirkham |
BMW | Buildbase BMW Motorrad | 81 | |
| 7 | James Westmoreland |
BMW | Buildbase BMW Motorrad | 77 | |
| 8 | Chris Walker |
Kawasaki | Quattro Plant Kawasaki | 75 | |
| 9 |  PJ Jacobsen |
Suzuki | Tyco Suzuki | 52 | |
| 10 | Keith Farmer |
Kawasaki | Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki | 50 | |
| 11 | Peter Hickman |
Honda | Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Honda | 47 | |
| 12 | Tommy Bridewell |
Honda | Bathams Honda | 42 | |
| 13 | Josh Waters |
Yamaha | Milwaukee Yamaha | 33 | |
| 14 |  Jakub Smrz |
Honda | Padgetts Honda | 31 | |
| 15 | Howie Mainwaring |
Kawasaki | MH Kawasaki | 29 | |
| 16 | Dan Linfoot |
Honda | Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Honda | 24 | |
| 17 |  Matteo Baiocco |
Ducati | Rapido Sport Racing | 24 | |
| 18 | Michael Rutter |
Honda | Bathams Honda | 23 | |
| 19 |  Robbin Harms |
Honda | Doodson Motorsport Honda | 22 | |
| 20 | Karl Harris |
Kawasaki | PR Racing Kawasaki | 18 | |
| 21 | Tristan Palmer |
Honda | Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Honda | 13 | |
| 22 | Martin Jessopp |
BMW | Riders Motorcycles | 9 | |
| 23 | Danny Buchan |
Kawasaki | Quattro Plant Kawasaki | 5 | |
| 24 | Lee Costello |
Kawasaki | Halsall Racing Kawasaki | 4 | |
| 25 | Aaron Zanotti |
Suzuki | Aaron Zanotti Racing | 2 | |
| 26 | Michael Howarth |
Kawasaki | MH Kawasaki | 1 | |
| 27 | Jenny Tinmouth |
Honda | Two Wheel Racing | 1 | |
| Next Round: Brands Hatch GP (July 21st) | |||||
