Byrne confident despite slow times

Defending MCE British Superbike champion Shane Byrne is relaxed despite finishing the opening day at Thruxton a distant twelfth place. Working on tyre life instead of single lap pace, the four-time champion says he’s confident for the rest of the weekend.

“When you look at the time sheet and see where we are you might think ‘oh what’s going on there then?’ but when you see people using three sets of tyres in a session to set a time, you have to think to yourself ‘what have you learned that’ll help you twenty laps into a race?’

“We did a full session on one set of tyres, made a few changes, and rode around and around and around to see where we’ll be towards the end of the race. The big thing is that we can definitely improve; if we had put a soft tyre in at the end the times would have been ok.”

And, regardless of his results today, the PBM Kawasaki rider says he’s having so much fun riding the ultra-fast, abrasive and bumpy Hampshire track that he says he’s not yet concerned with his finishing order.

“You can ride around and the lap time might not be great, but when you’ve been on the stop in fourth gear you realise that sometimes it doesn’t matter how fast you’re going. Thruxton is definitely what riding a superbike is all about!

“It’s so much fun around here; it’s so much fun that it almost doesn’t matter whether it’s fast or slow – if it’s really bad, you just do bigger skids! I absolutely love riding here, and hopefully we’ll be in better shape tomorrow and where we need to be on Sunday.”