Byrne Double at Windy Donington Park
Shane Byrne tightened his grip on the chase for the Bennetts British Superbike title with a second winning double of the season in the fourth round at Donington Park in which the local favourite Leon Haslam had to settle for a second best in each of the races.

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Shane Byrne tightened his grip on the chase for the Bennetts British Superbike title with a second winning double of the season in the fourth round at Donington Park in which the local favourite Leon Haslam had to settle for a second best in each of the races. Riding the Airwaves Ducati, Byrne started from pole for the third time, but it was James Ellison who made the early running aboard the Hydrex Bike Animal Honda, though by the third lap, he had been taken by the determined Byrne. He was beginning to pull clear of the pack when the Audi Safety Car was introduced to neutralise the race while marshals dealt with the ensuing fire, following the engine failure, of the Suzuki ridden by Luke Quigley. “It was difficult, because after making a sensible start, I had just pulled out a bit of a gap when the Safety Car came out, and I had to think about tactics, but then I decided to just go for it,” explained Byrne. “The wind was a real problem and at Redgate it actually blew the front wheel away and I had to pick the bike up a bit and balance it. It was a fine line between being safe and pushing on but fortunately my gamble paid off.” Byrne held the upper-hand, crossing the line some 2.47secs up on HM Plant Honda rider Haslam with Tom Sykes third for Rizla Suzuki. Ellison had to settle for fourth place ahead of Leon Camier and Cal Crutchlow. Karl Harris, suffering from arm-pump, had been running fourth, but dropped back to seventh ahead of Michael Rutter; Michael Laverty who had started from the pit-lane and Simon Andrews. Haslam, who had blamed himself for a poor-start in the opener, made the perfect get-away next time out to lead, and soon his team-mate Crutchlow was running line adrift while Byrne, who had been sixth on the opening lap, was beginning to make up ground, though not without a scrap with his teamster Camier. Byrne was running third with four laps remaining, and setting the fastest lap of the race, he closed in on Crutchlow, nosing inside him at the Melbourne Hairpin to go second. Next time round, with an indentical move he had taken Haslam, en route to completing his sixth victory. “I didn’t make life easy for myself, but then I drifted through, kept it consistent and didn’t make any mistakes,” reflected Byrne, adding, “though that said I nearly fell off at the last corner on one lap. “But, I got the double, and that is great for me and the team who have given me such a great package to work with – all I have to do is wobble around and win for them.” Haslam came in second, ahead of Crutchlow, Camier, Ellison and Sykes. Byrne leads the title chase 190-122 ahead of Crutchlow with Camier third on 107 points, while in the Daily Star Cup Buildbase NW200 Ducati rider John Laverty with a victory, and then a second place adrift of the Quay Garage Honda of Gary Mason extended his advantage to 171-87 ahead of Martin Jessopp. British Superbike - Donington Park Race One Result Pos - Rider - Bike - Team - Time 1 - Shane Byrne - Ducati - Airwaves Ducati - 32:01.1 2 - Leon Haslam - Honda - HM Plant Honda - 32:03.5 3 - Tom Sykes - Suzuki - Rizla Suzuki - 32:04.5 4 - James Ellison - Honda - Hydrex Bike Animal Honda - 32:06.9 5 - Leon Camier - Ducati - Airwaves Ducati - 32:07.2 6 - Cal Crutchlow - Honda - HM Plant Honda - 32:07.7 7 - Karl Harris - Yamaha - Team Yamaha - 32:08.5 8 - Michael Rutter - Ducati - North West 200 Ducati - 32:10.9 9 - Michael Laverty - Suzuki - Relentless Suzuki by TAS - 32:13.7 10 - Simon Andrews - Yamaha - Jentin Racing / Lloyds British - 32:17.3 11 - Stuart Easton - Kawasaki - MSS Discovery Kawasaki - 32:17.9 12 - Tristan Palmer - Honda - Tena for Men Honda - 32:21.1 13 - Tom Grant - Honda - SMT Honda - 32:24.1 14 - Dean Ellison - Yamaha - Co-ordit Racing - 32:26.4 15 - Scott Smart - Kawasaki - Hawk Racing - 32:26.5 16 - John Laverty - Ducati - Buildbase NW200 Ducati - 32:28.5 17 - Atsushi Watanabe - Suzuki - Rizla Suzuki - 32:29.1 18 - Gary Mason - Honda - Quay Garage - 32:33.6 19 - Tom Tunstall - Honda - Hardinge - Ice Valley Motorsport - 32:50.3 20 - Leon Morris - Ducati - Team Trimrite Brookspeed - 32:55.6 21 - Michael Howarth - Honda - Tena for Men Honda - 32:29.8 Not Classified DNF - Aaron Zanotti - Honda - Red Viper Racing - 26:27.2 DNF - Chris Burns - MV Agusta - STP Superbike - 22:50.7 DNF - Billy McConnell - Kawasaki - MSS Discovery Kawasaki - 23:03.6 DNF - David Johnson - Honda - Team MAXXIS - 20:09.2 DNF - Luke Quigley - Suzuki - PDM Racing - 09:43.0 DNF - Shannon Etheridge - Kawasaki - MAR Adept - 03:23.7 British Superbike - Donington Park Race Two Result 1 - Shane Byrne - Ducati - Airwaves Ducati 31:06.3 2 - Leon Haslam - Honda - HM Plant Honda 31:06.7 3 - Cal Crutchlow - Honda - HM Plant Honda 31:07.8 4 - Leon Camier - Ducati - Airwaves Ducati 31:07.9 5 - James Ellison - Honda - Hydrex Bike Animal Honda 31:10.5 6 - Tom Sykes - Suzuki - Rizla Suzuki 31:13.8 7 - Karl Harris - Yamaha - Team Yamaha 31:22.0 8 - Michael Rutter - Ducati - North West 200 Ducati 31:33.1 9 - Simon Andrews - Yamaha - Jentin Racing / Lloyds British 31:38.2 10 - Gary Mason - Honda - Quay Garage 31:39.2 11 - Stuart Easton - Kawasaki - MSS Discovery Kawasaki 31:40.7 12 - Scott Smart - Kawasaki - Hawk Racing 31:42.3 13 - Atsushi Watanabe - Suzuki - Rizla Suzuki 31:42.4 14 - Tristan Palmer - Honda - Tena for Men Honda 31:52.4 15 - Dean Ellison - Yamaha - Co-ordit Racing 31:54.2 16 - John Laverty - Ducati - Buildbase NW200 Ducati 32:07.7 17 - Tom Tunstall - Honda - Hardinge - Ice Valley Motorsport 32:23.0 18 - Luke Quigley - Suzuki - PDM Racing 32:23.0 19 - Leon Morris - Ducati - Team Trimrite Brookspeed 32:31.2 20 - Shannon Etheridge - Kawasaki - MAR Adept 31:09.5 21 - Michael Howarth - Honda - Tena for Men Honda 32:14.3 Not Classified DNF - David Johnson - Honda - Team MAXXIS 30:39.5 DNF - Tom Grant - Honda - SMT Honda 27:17.8 DNF - Michael Laverty - Suzuki - Relentless Suzuki by TAS 23:38.8 DNF - Billy Mcconnell - Kawasaki - MSS Discovery Kawasaki 08:00.1 DNF - Chris Burns - MV Agusta - STP Superbike 03:18.5 DNF - Aaron Zanotti - Honda - Red Viper Racing 01:47.3 Championship Points after race two 1 - Shane Byrne (Ducati) - 190 2 - Cal Crutchlow (Honda) - 122 3 - Leon Camier (Ducati) - 107 4 - Leon Haslam (Honda) - 96 5 - James Ellison (Honda) - 88 6 - Michael Rutter (Ducati) - 82 7 - Tom Sykes (Suzuki) - 75 8 - Stuart Easton (Kawasaki) - 62 9 - Michael Laverty (Suzuki) - 59 10 - Simon Andrews (Yamaha) - 37
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