Teenager tipped for GB call
Thanks to bsb double Swimming
Shane Byrne had his best weekend of the season in the British Superbike Championship. The Sittingbourne rider claimed his first double of the campaign at Snetterton, beating rival Josh Brookes in both races. He’s kickstarted his title defence and is now only seven points behind championship leader Luke Mossey. Byrne said: “It’s been a good weekend and in both races, I used my head and bided my time. “I didn’t make the greatest of starts in race one but stayed safe in the first few laps and we’d worked hard over the weekend to make sure we were fast throughout the race. “I took my time to get to the front and then at half race distance pushed on a bit and it all panned out perfectly. “Race two was definitely tougher as Josh was setting a good pace. “He put the hammer down around half race distance so I made my move and obliterated my own lap record to grab the lead soon after. “The Be Wiser Ducati team did a great job all weekend and after only getting a couple of thirds at Knockhill and with Glenn (Irwin, team-mate) getting injured, it’s good to put the smiles back on everyone’s faces, especially ahead of my home round at Brands Hatch, which is next.” Byrne dropped from pole to fourth in the opening race but quickly passed Dan Linfoot and Leon Haslam before snatching the lead off James Ellison, who later retired. He went on to beat Brookes by 3.295sec, with Jason O’Halloran third. Byrne started from pole again in race two but Brookes led into Riches. Back came Shakey and on lap 14 he made his move and took the lead. He held off a counter-attack from the Australian to win by less than seven tenths of a second. The next round is at Brands Hatch on July 21-23. A Maidstone swimmer has been tipped to represent Great Britain at the Paralympics. Genny Hunter, 14, won five gold medals at the Junior National Para Swimming Championships in Sunderland, setting four personalbest times in her six events. She won the 100m freestyle, 100m breaststroke, 50m freestyle, 200m individual medley and 400m freestyle in the 14-16 age group. Hunter, who swims for Beachfield in Sheerness, smashed her 400m freestyle PB by 24 seconds and club chairman Carl Fitzpatrick believes she is destined for big things. He said: “This achievement is the culmination of years of hard work and thousands of hours in the pool, training six days a week. I expect Genny to break into the British Paralympic team over the next few years as she has real determination and a will to succeed. “I am exceptionally proud that Beachfield should have a multiple national swimming champion – it will really inspire future Sheppey swimmers that they can succeed nationally at our relatively small club.”