With the British Superbike grid rolling into Silverstone this weekend for round nine of the Championship, the Be Wiser Ducati duo of Shane Byrne and Glenn Irwin are looking to add to their successes, with Byrne aiming to cement his place in the Showdown which begins at Oulton Park a week later.
Five-time British Champion Byrne currently leads the way, despite having to retire from race two at Cadwell Park with mechanical problems while leading. He’s heading to Silverstone with a ten point advantage over his closest rival Leon Haslam and a five point advantage in podium points. Byrne is looking extremely likely for a spot in the title fight as he tries to muscle his way in for the seventh consecutive year. Speaking ahead of the crucial Silverstone round, Byrne said:
“I’ve really enjoyed a pleasant mix of relaxing and training hard in Spain with my family since Cadwell Park and have had time to reflect on things. I have a great team around me and like them, I’ve been really annoyed and frustrated that we’ve as good as given away a potential 10 Podium Points in the last two rounds with a couple of DNFs.
We know what we need to do and Silverstone should be a good track for us, this is our last chance to earn as many Podium Points this weekend so I’ll be going all out to do exactly that.”
His team mate Glenn Irwin has had a mixed year, and is still recovering from injuries sustained from a crash at Knockhill. He has bravely fought through the pain and achieved a respectable haul of results. Irwin has unfortunately missed out on a place in the top six, but says he will help Byrne out by taking points out of his rivals. Talking of his recovery and hopes for the triple-header, Irwin said:
“I think everybody should be excited going into this weekend with it being a triple-header but I can only speak for myself. The body has had a good rest since Cadwell but I have got more miles done on my push bike than ever before and we’ve made more progress with my injuries which is big a step forward.
I like Silverstone and I need to repay my team for not delivering the results recently so I intend to do that this weekend. Also, if I can help Shakey in any way possible, it goes without saying I’ll do that.”
