PBM team owner Paul Bird did not get the Birthday present he was hoping for after both his Be Wiser Ducati riders crashed out during Race 2 at Brands Hatch.

Starting from the 2nd row on the grid, Be Wiser Ducati teammates Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne and Glenn Irwin were running strongly in Race 2 at the Indy circuit and by the third race distance were 6th and 7th on track. Shakey went on to post the fastest lap of the race on Lap 11 with a time of 45.436s.

10 laps later and Irwin was up into 5th, but as he started to catch Shakey and the 3 other leading riders he lost the front of his Panigale going into Clearways, crashing out of the race unhurt.

Just two laps later Shakey was looking extremely comfortable on his bike and passed Leon Haslam (Kawasaki) for 3rd place after getting a great drive out of . But drama struck as he too crashed out at Clearways in the same spot as Irwin, a result of holding a tight defensive line over the bumps on the corner.

At this point, John ‘Hopper’ Hopkins (Moto Rapido Ducati) was the sole Ducati rider on track. Hopper rode through the pain barrier with an aggravated broken foot, managing to covert his 12th place start position into an 11th place finish.

John Hopkins (Moto Rapido Ducati #21) – 9th

“We’re getting there, we’re making progress. That said we got the best starting position we could with the fuelling issues issue for Race 2. I accidentally just smashed my foot in the curve coming into Graham Hill in Race 1. It’s only been 2 weeks since I broke 3 bones in the foot so it’s obviously not healed and that made it quite sore. Got a pretty good start in Race 2 and started making my way up through the field. But I was fighting through the pain and slightly clipped my foot again about a quarter of the way through Race 2. I kind of started to let the pain get the better of me. I think Bradley Ray came past me and just gave me that extra burst of adrenaline, I just said ‘screw it’ and fought through the pain and went for it.

The end quarter of the race we were doing the same lap times as the lead group. We finished the race strong. It’s an improvement. Obviously not where we want to be yet, not where we are capable of being. But we finished 2 races today and we made some improvements from Donington and we’re going to some circuits I really enjoy, so I’m looking forward to the next few races.”

Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati #67) - DNF

“I’m absolutely devastated because the bike Giovanni and the team gave me for Race 2 was night and day better than Race 1. Race 1 was really, really difficult. But Race 1 for me in some ways was really positive because despite the bike being so difficult to ride I reeled in the leaders, got n the back of 2nd place and a podium was more than on the cards. But the bike that I had for Race 2, just some small changes to the rear suspension, but they made such a difference.

That was probably 1 of the best settings we’ve had for a race full-stop since we changed to Ducati. I felt so, so comfortable. It was like being out for a Sunday ride just sat there cruising along behind the guys. Last time I checked there was 12 laps to go. I nipped past Leon because he was making lots of mistakes. Christian and Luke were in front but when I passed Leon I fully expected a lunge back the inside at Clearways because that’s Leon, he’s tenacious and he fights straight back and I knew he’d be angry that it was me that who’d passed him. So I went real tight into Clearways and hit the bumps and just bounced the front once, bounced it twice, it was on my knee, I was trying to catch it. And the next thing I know I was upside down in the gravel. So I went from literally from sitting contemplating how I was going to thank the team so much for giving me such a great bike for winning the race or whatever else, to rolling through the gravel trap upside down thinking this was not in the script!

We showed a lot of promise this weekend and I’m devastated for the team and the crash obviously and the 4th in Race 1 as that’s not what we go racing for. But we’ve shown we’re going to be there and we’re going to be fighting for wins in the very near future.”