Shane Byrne missed out on a podium finish by seconds during the opening race of the World Superbike Championship in Brno on Sunday.

The Sittingboure rider took fourth behind fellow Brit Jonathan Rea on the Team Sterilgarda bike at the Czech circuit.

He followed that up with a less impressive performance in race 2 where he had to settle for eighth.

Byrne now sits ninth in the rider standings.

He said: "I’m happy with race one, not so much with the second. However, I established myself as one of the top riders.

"In race 1 everything went smoothly but in race 2 I got stuck in the pack where we overtook each other several times and this slowed us down.

"I could’ve finished seventh but I made a mistake in the last lap when I was attacking (Tom) Sykes who eventually overtook me".