BSB: Byrne takes pole despite fast lap mistake

Shane Byrne continued his domination of this weekend’s Thruxton round of the MCE British Superbike Championship with a commanding performance in Superpole despite making a mistake on his fast lap.

The four-time champion accidently kicked his bike into neutral through the complex meaning his time was down at the first sector before he managed to recover to take his third pole of the year.

“The last lap was a little bit frustrating for me as I did the ’13.8 in Q2 and made a big mistake coming out of the complex so got spat up a bit and had to shut the throttle,” he told MCN after the session. “I was fairly confident I still had a bit more in hand but I wasn’t sure how much quicker than a 13’8 I could go.

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“I got a really good run off the chicane to start my lap and a really good run through turn one, up into fourth gear for turn two and peeled in and think I clipped the gear lever on the floor and it knocked the bike into neutral, I was pinned so it revved like mad but I managed to get it back into gear. I saw I was only a tenth down so pushed on and while the lap was half a second off what I did earlier, it was good enough for pole.”

The only rider on the grid who seems to be able to run exceptionally fast times across race distance on the softer tyre, Byrne is an undoubtable favourite to win tomorrow’s two races but he’s not taking anything for granted with a hungry chasing pack behind.

“I want to focus really hard tomorrow and try and get in my rhythm early and see what we can do, he added. “Traditionally, Thruxton goes one or two ways with someone running off at the front or a shit fight for the rostrum. Because of my qualifying last year, I was in the shitfight but I’d much rather be out in front on my own but to do that I’ve got to beat some really fast riders and it’s not going to be easy.”

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