Sittingbourne's Shane Byrne sets sights on Silverstone success
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Sittingbourne's Shane Byrne has set his sights on winning the
battle of Britain during World Superbike round 10 after showing
glimpses of his best in round nine at Brno.
The 33-year-old travelled to the Czech Republic nursing an
injured left hand, damaged following a freak accident while testing
in Imola where he was crashed into by fellow Brit Leon Haslam.
The Althea Racing rider shrugged off the problem and instead
struggled for grip in Brno and had to settle for 16th on the grid
after a below-par qualifying session.
Byrne’s grip issues wouldn’t go away and he improved just four
places to 12th in race one on Sunday before moving up a further
three to ninth in race two.
Britain's Jonathan Rea took the race honours in race one, while
championship leader Max Biaggi picked up his fifth win from the
last six races in race two.
Byrne (pictured) – who sits 12th in the standings with 108
points – admits there was plenty in his Brno performance to give
him reason for optimism ahead of next month’s British round at
Silverstone.
"In race one we didn’t have much grip and I think this
conditioned my result but on the other hand race two was completely
different," said Byrne.
"I was able to improve quite a lot, I lapped more than half a
second faster than I did in race one in a race which I think
everyone had trouble putting in fast lap times.
"Now I am banking on getting fully fit from my slight hand
injury so I can be totally prepared to give things a real go at
Silverstone.
"No one has ridden there since the changes to the track and this
could be an interesting factor as far as the races are concerned –
I’m looking forward to it."
World Superbike Championship races will be broadcast on
Eurosport, with the European rounds also available in high
definition. Eurosport is available on Sky 410 and Virgin Media 521.
Eurosport HD is on Sky 412 and Virgin Media 522.
Monday, July 12 2010
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