Byrne fights on to take pole

Despite already being crowned British champion Shane Byrne is refusing to take it easy and has continued to set the top times all weekend for the final round of the British Superbike championship.

The Monstermob Ducati rider set a 1:32.663 lap to top the time sheets in the qualifying session and then went on to better than in the Super 12 session with a 1:32.104 to take pole position for Sunday’s race.

Byrnes closest rival all weekend has been Sean Emmett on the ETI Ducati who will start the race form the second place on the grid but even Emmett couldn’t get within three tenths of the new champion.

John Reynolds, who secured second place in the championship at the last round, took provisional third place in the qualifying session but couldn’t hold off Michael Rutter in the Super 12, finishing 0.2 seconds down on the Renegade Ducati rider to take fourth on the grid.

Leonn Haslam, Glen Richards and Steve Plater take the next three places but Niall McKenzie was out to prove that he was still up to the task, finishing the second row of the grid with a 1:33.616.

The three time British champion has come out of retirement to fill in for the injured Rizla Suzuki rider Yukio Kagayam. The Scott’s time away has not left him out of practice though as he has been working as the teams test and development rider so knows the GSX-R1000 well.

John Kirkham, Dean Ellison, Scott Smart and Gary Mason finished the Super12 session.

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