Shane Byrne extended his record to four victories from five races in the 2014 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship with a comfortable win in race one at Snetterton. The Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki rider led throughout and although he came under pressure from Josh Brookes late on, he was never in any great danger.
Byrne converted pole position into the lead at Riches but behind there was drama as Julien da Costa came together with Jakub Smrz at Montreal. That, coupled with a broken water hose clip on Stuart Easton’s Kawasaki which split fluids on the circuit, necessitated the use of the safety car before green flag racing could resume.
When the circuit was clear, Byrne led a four man breakaway involving Brookes, James Ellison and Tommy Bridewell but a squabble between Brookes and Ellison for second effectively handed the race to ‘Shakey’. Brookes saw off the challenge of the GBmoto Kawasaki five laps from the finish and mounted a late challenge for Byrne’s lead but a slip-up at Oggies stopped Josh in his tracks, forcing him to settle for second.
Ellison finished third, just as he has in each of the previous four races so far this season, while Bridewell kept up his showdown form with fourth place. Ryuichi Kiyonari couldn’t quite hit the heights of his previous visits to Snetterton but fifth was still a solid result for the three-time champion. Chris Walker took sixth by the narrowest of margins from Dan Linfoot with Patric Muff eighth ahead of the Tyco Suzukis of John Hopkins and Josh Waters.
