BSB: Byrne 'used head' to secure front row start

Shane Byrne was not disappointed with missing out on pole position at Donington Park this afternoon after a mistake in the early stages of his Superpole lap saw him play it safe for the remainder of his single flier. 

Determined to start from the front row, Byrne knew he was in a relatively good position three quarters of the way around so didn’t push to the limit in the final sector of the Leicetershire circuit. Despite this, his time was still quick enough to take second on the grid, just 0.1 seconds behind championship rival Leon Haslam. 

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“I’m really happy because we made a small change to the bike for the final session which was an improvement but it caught me off guard at turn one!” he said after the session. “I made a small mistake there but I was still two and a bit tenths under my time from Q2 so thought I was on for a good lap but I was really careful as I didn’t want to throw it away.

“A front row is really important here so I had to use my head at the last turn and not push to the limit. I lost a tenth doing that and ultimately lost Superpole by a tenth. To be second on the grid is important here and we did a really strong race run earlier so we’re in a good position.”

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