Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/298857
IN THE WIND P22 BYRNE DOUBLES DOWN IN SEASON OPENER T hree-time British Superbike Champion Shane Byrne started his chase for title number four with a double win at the Brit- ish Superbike season opener at the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit on Monday. So how close is the British Su- perbike Series in 2014? Well, at the end of day one of qualifying the top-19 riders were all within a second of leader Josh Brookes on the Milwaukee Yamaha. Brookes led the entire weekend, including the very difficult wet qualifying sessions that caught a lot of riders out and turned into a crashfest. Brookes himself crashed three times, but was able to get back out and advance to the final session to ultimately take pole. Byrne, who came up just sev- en points short to Alex Lowes in last year's title chase, wasn't so lucky and qualified 13th. But in race one on Easter Monday it was a reversal of for- tunes as Brookes crashed out while fighting for the lead and Byrne worked his way up into a battle for third before the race was red flagged. On the restart it was two veterans fighting for the lead – Byrne and Lloyds Brit- ish GBmoto Racing Kawasaki's Chris Walker. Ultimately, Byrne would take the win with Walker holding off his teammate James Ellison to keep second. Moving up to second on the grid for race two, Byrne led from start to finish, recording the 53rd win of his career. Brookes fought his way from 10th to take second from Ellison. The pair of thirds for the day puts Ellison second in the championship, 18 points be- hind Byrne. "It's been the perfect start to the year and a massive team ef- fort and I'm really proud of all the guys in the team," Byrne said. "Conditions in qualifying were very difficult and starting on row five wasn't where we wanted to be, but I knew we were strong in the dry and I'd moved up to second when the first race was stopped. It made things slightly easier in the re-run and I knew it was important to get going early as Chris [Walker] would be fast again, especially as he was on a different tire, but once I took the lead I just chipped away each lap and kept it clean and tidy. "Starting from the front row for the second race was the ideal place to be and I had a bit of a strategy in that I wanted to get away from the start as I knew Josh Brookes would be able to come through the pack. At mid- race distance the guys reeled me in a bit so I just rode as hard as I could and tried not to make any mistakes." In his first race back after a year off, Tyco Suzuki's John Hop- kins finished fifth and 11 th in the two races, respectively. Fellow Americans Danny Eslick finished eighth in British Superstock 1000 and in British Supersport James Rispoli scored an 11th in race one and 13th in race two. Andrea Wilson Shane Byrne (center) started the British Superbike season off with a double win at Brands Hatch. He's flanked by Josh Brookes (left) and James Ellison (right) after the sec- ond of two races. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF BRITISH SUPERBIKE SERIES