BSB: Byrne quickest despite not making most of new tyres

Shane Byrne was surprised to be atop of the timesheets on the opening day of Bennetts British Superbike action as Brands Hatch after making number of mistakes towards the end of the session.

The six-time British champion says he didn’t capitalise as much as he could have when he put in a new soft rear tyre in the closing stages of the day’s only dry session. Despite that, he managed to lap 0.175 seconds quicker than James Ellison to top the field at the end of day one.

Byrne spent the second session testing a new swing arm from Ducati Corse, which is understood to be somewhat of a compromise between the two existing swing arm options the PBM squad have been running since last year.

“It’s really difficult here because it’s such a short lap so you’re scratching around trying to find each little bit!” he told MCN.

“We’ve got a new swing arm in the bike today and it’s kind of tricky because I’d love to say it’s better or it’s worse, we’re going to keep it or whatever but it’s unquantifiable as we haven’t been able to back to back it with the old one. We’re going to keep it in for the rest of the weekend and then back-to-back at some point in the future.

“All I’m interested in is doing the best job I can today and tomorrow to give myself the best possible chance for Sunday. That work ethic never changes. I don’t think I got the best out of the new tyres, I made a few mistakes but the lap time was OK so it’s a good start but it means nothing until Sunday.”