Ducati rider Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne won his first ever BSB double at Thruxton last Sunday, extending his championship lead to 41-points.

Pole position in race 1 was taken by Michael Rutter, but this early lead was short lived as on lap two Shane Byrne put up the fastest lap of the race overtaking Rutter. There then commenced a battle between Byrne and Rutter who set a blistering pace for the whole of the first race.

In the pack behind, Steve Hislop, Glen Richards, Gary Mason and Sean Emmett were all fighting for a podium place and were beginning to close the gap on Rutter. Honda Britain's, Steve Plater went by Emmett and Mason but just couldn't get past Glen Richards.

Michael Rutter was joined towards the end of the race by Steve Hislop on the Virgin Mobile R1, fighting for 2nd place and a useful 20 championship points. Rutter eventually surrendered 2nd place to Steve Hislop on the final lap, and couldn't pass Hislop again. Shane Byrne won by a comfortable 4.8 secs, Hislop came in 2nd, Rutter took third, and Glen Richards was the surprise story of the day on the Hawk Kawasaki ZX-7RR taking fourth. Richards is now equiped with a 2002 WSB motor and he was in the thick of it all the way and just edged out Steve Plater by 0.1 sec at the flag! Sean Emmett came in 6th, with Gary Mason 7th and the recently signed Mark Heckles, in his 3rd ever BSB race, took a creditable 8th place.

Race two had Michael Rutter again on pole. Lap 4 saw Mark Heckles on the Honda WSB Honda SP-2 join the leaders, and hot on his heels came Gary Mason. Steve Plater set the fastest lap of the race on lap 5, with Shane Byrne and Steve Hislop putting the pressure on just behind. Shane Byrne then made his move and found a way past Michael Rutter and then started to pull away from the rest of field to eventually win his first BSB double. This race saw his advantage diminish to 2.7secs at the flag.

John Reynolds retired his Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000 on lap 11, after taking a 12th in race one, the effects of his broken collarbone proved too much around the bumpy and demanding Thruxton track. Teamate Yukio Kagayama was also suffering after a crash in qualifying but managed to finish in 9th in both races. In the last few laps Rutter, Richards, Plater and Hislop were all fighting for the remaining two podium places. Hislop went wide at the final chicane but didn't loose any places and finished in 5th, Rutter just got his head in front of Glen Richards Kawasaki and took 2nd by 0.1 sec, and Steve Plater got 4th. Following them were Virgin's Gary Mason, leading Emmett and Heckles for 6th, 7th and 8th.

Shane Byrne now obviously heads the championship with 140-points, 41 ahead of Michael Rutter (99). Glen Richards follows in 3rd with 72, Gary Mason is in 5th with 59 and Yukio Kagayama in 6th on 58.

British Superbikes will be at Oulton Park in Cheshire in two weeks’ time for races 7 and 8 of 24-race series.