Though it wasn't quite the grandstand finish that had fans on their feet in 2011, the 2012 MCE British Superbike Championship came to a fitting climax at
Brands Hatch as Shane Byrne wrapped up a third career title in resounding style.
While the nine point margin between Byrne and Josh Brookes coming into the final race seemed slim on paper, 'Shakey's' past form around the
Brands Hatch GP circuit meant he was certainly the favourite to succeed.
And so it proved, Byrne's three wins from three races securing him a third career
BSB title and putting him 28 points clear of Brookes in the final standings.
It's a particularly satisfying title for Byrne given the 'Showdown' format famously cost him the 2011 title, even if he will admit the 'shootout' ironically helped him out on this occasion when he was forced to miss four races due to injury.
Indeed, it is worth pointing out that it was Brookes that actually scored the most points over the entire season when the Showdown format is not taken into account.
Even so, Byrne was still the 'winningest' rider in 2012 with eight victories in total, four of which came in the critical final seven races of the season. Brookes, on the other hand, won four races over the entire season.
As well as winning the riders' title, Kawasaki emerged victorious in the manufacturers' standings, Byrne's three victories helping it overcome Suzuki during the final round.
Elsewhere, pre-Showdown favourite Tommy Hill saw his title challenge fade dramatically as he couldn't keep pace with Byrne, Brookes and even Alex Lowes when it mattered. A poor final round for Lowes would lift Hill back to third overall, but it was still a disappointing end to a campaign that looked unstoppable at one stage.
Despite failing to finish any of the final three races, Lowes did enough to scrape fourth in the standings ahead of fellow Honda rider Michael Laverty, his three poles, four podiums and two wins marking quite the turnaround for a rider that only just scraped into the Showdown in the first place.