The PBM Kawasaki team enjoyed a great day at Snetterton yesterday as Shane Byrne won both races in round four of the MCE British Superbike Championship.
The reigning champion got an excellent start in race one and had opened up a 2.340s lead by the end of the first lap, before disappearing into the distance and taking his second victory of the season.
Race two was a very similar story, although Byrne was put under some pressure early-on by Josh Brookes on the Milwaukee Yamaha.
After a safety car period, caused by Taylor Mackenzie’s fire on the Team WD40 Kawasaki, Byrne was able to open up a gap once again and complete his second consecutive double victory at the Norfolk circuit.
Afterwards, Byrne said: “The weekend could have been worse couldn’t it?! It’s been a superb weekend for me and with a great start in the first race, I was able to get into a good rhythm straight away. It allowed me to get a good advantage and it played into my hands as about a third of the way through the race, I had a slight issue with the quickshifter and so had to nurse the bike home a bit.
“The PBM team did a great job and rectified the issue for race two and I knew I could run a faster pace and that’s exactly what happened. I tried to keep it as clean as possible and pole position and a double is perfect.”
The weekend’s results mean that Byrne has 64 victories in BSB, along with an impressive 14 double race winning rounds to his name.
It also means that he now has the lead of the championship and is 17 points clear of Brookes, and 33 points clear of the leader heading into the weekend, James Ellison.
On the other side of the garage Stuart Easton was consistent throughout the weekend and managed to pick up a sixth place finish in race one, before finishing seventh in race two.
The high point-scoring finishes mean that Easton remains fourth in the championship and safely within the showdown positions, with seventh-placed Michael Laverty 46 points adrift.
A relieved Easton said: “Snetterton is always my least favourite circuit on the calendar so to come away with a sixth and a seventh is not a bad day at all. It was difficult out there and I was struggling in the last sector so it was a case of hanging on. The team gave me a great bike and it kept me in touch so a big thanks to them.
“Staying in a good fourth overall is what I wanted and I can look forward to my home round at Knockhill now where I’ll be looking to fly the Scottish flag high.”
As mentioned by Easton, Knockhill is next on the calendar for the PBM Kawasaki team in two weeks time. Free practice for round five of the 2015 BSB championship gets underway on Friday 3 July.
