Shane 'Shakey' Byrne kicked off his campaign for a record breaking fourth title by securing the opening race win of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship season ahead of Chris Walker and James Ellison who scored Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki's first podiums in the series.

The race started with pole-sitter Josh Brookes hitting the front of the pack from Chris Walker, but the pair were instantly dicing for the lead, with the Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki charging ahead at Druids on the second lap. Brookes was pushing hard to regain the position but tipping into Druids for the seventh lap he lost the front and crashed out of the race unhurt.

Walker then was being rapidly closed by Byrne after carving his way through from his thirteenth position on the grid. John Hopkins was duelling for third with James Ellison, with the Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki rider pushing ahead before the race was red flagged before when James Hillier suffered a technical problem, with the circuit requiring treatment before the restart.

On the restart Walker dived into the lead on the opening lap and again was scrapping with Byrne for the lead. On lap two Byrne pushed ahead at Paddock Hill Bend, however Walker attacked straight back, regaining the position at Druids. Byrne held off his challenges for the lead, but Walker then had his Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki team-mate to contend with as Ellison pushed him hard for the second place. Walker maintained second place on the final lap from Ellison as the team celebrated their first podium finishes in the championship.

Byrne said:

"Yesterday was difficult but today we knew we had the pace in the dry. We knew I had my work cut out a little bit with our qualifying position, but it's the first race of a really, really long championship so I got my head down. I got a decent enough start and started picking people off; I just desperately didn't want to rush anything and make a silly mistake. I got up to second eventually and upped my own rhythm a little bit and there was quite a lot of laps to go, maybe 19 or 20 laps and I could see that Chris was away at the front. I got to Chris and then the race got red-flagged. The restart made it a little bit easier. I knew Chris would be really fast in the beginning, so I tried to get in the lead as quick as possible and just stay clean and tidy. It's a shame Josh (Brookes) wasn't there because I'm sure he'll throw a completely different element into the mix in race two, we'll see where we go from there."

Gearlink Kawasaki made an impressive debut into the championship with Ben Wilson holding off Tyco Suzuki's John Hopkins for fourth place with Stuart Easton taking advantage of the restart to finish sixth. The lone Milwaukee Yamaha of Tommy Bridewell was seventh ahead of the Anvil Hire TAG Kawasaki team on their first appearance with Richard Copper and Jakub Smrz. James Westmoreland completed the top ten for Buildbase BMW whilst his team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari dramatically stalled on the grid and was forced to finish 16th.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, race one:

Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)
Chris Walker (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +1.615s
James Ellison (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +1.672s
Ben Wilson (Gearlink Kawasaki) +5.639s
John Hopkins (Tyco Suzuki) +6.007s
Stuart Easton (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +6.235s
Tommy Bridewell (Milwaukee Yamaha) +6.365s
Richard Cooper (Anvil Hire TAG Kawasaki) +7.328s
Jakub Smrz (Millsport Ducati) +7.735s
James Westmoreland (Buildbase BMW) +7.735s

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