BSB: Byrne confident of continuing Snetterton victory run

Shane Byrne blew away the competition as the MCE British Superbike championship debuted its new Superpole qualifying system for the first time at Snetterton.

The Be Wiser Ducati man, who was last to set off for his single flying lap, knocked rival Leon Haslam from the top spot by lapping 0.5 seconds quicker.

One of just a handful of riders to have contested a one-lap Superpole session before in the Superbike World Championship, Byrne’s lap of 1’47.795 was 0.1sec under the circuit lap record.

“I was really nervous before my lap, I saw Leon did a 48.3 and knew I’d done a 48.1 in Q1”, he said after the session. “My first sector was three tenths up on my best so I tried my best to maintain it. I made a couple of tiny, tiny mistakes but when I came across the line and saw 1’47.7 I was happy to take that!”

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Riding with an all-new exhaust this weekend, Byrne is confident of making his mark ahead of tomorrow’s two races as he looks to continue his run of five races unbeaten at the Norfolk circuit. 

“We got some new parts this weekend and I know we’ve got some more coming in the future. We’re trying to make it as good as we can for the showdown and now we’ve had two poles and two wins I think we’re doing quite a good job with what’s a new bike for us.

“Nobody has really been able to do a long run in the dry as we’ve only had one dry session. I feel much happier with the bike in the dry than I did at the test.”

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