Byrne claims sixth title
Motorsport
Almost 60,000 motorsport fans packed Brands Hatch last weekend for a dramatic climax to the British Superbike Championship.
Shane Byrne went into the tripleheader 33 points behind series leader Leon Haslam and with no more than an outside chance of clinching his sixth BSB title.
But back-to-back wins on his Be Wiser Ducati closed the gap to two points and when Haslam crashed out of the final race, eighth place was enough for the Sittingbourne rider to take the crown by three points from Josh Brookes.
Byrne, 40, said: “I thought I’d seen it all in my 18 years of superbikes but I have to admit that the weekend’s drama surprised me.
“Out of all my British Championship successes, this is definitely the sweetest. People say winning the championship is easy – it’s defending it which is difficult.
“To finally do that and win back-toback titles for the first time is special.
“Honestly, I thought there was only a slim chance that I’d be leaving Brands Hatch as champion.”
Byrne hadn’t won a race since July but won Saturday’s opener from pole position and, with Haslam fourth, the gap was down to 21 points.
The veteran was involved in a titanic scrap in race two on Sunday, piping Christian Iddon by half a second, and was now only two points behind Haslam after his title rival limped to 10th.
A sluggish start saw Byrne drop to sixth in the final race but he had Haslam in his sights when the Kawasaki man crashed out and broke his ankle.
Byrne said: “He was just in front of me and I knew the longer that continued the more pressure he’d be under.
“Then he crashed. Nobody wants to see that and to be honest it threw me a bit.”