He's been the form man of 2008 so far and in the first race at
Thruxton today Shane Byrne demonstrated that he is going to be a very hard man to beat on the 1089 Airwaves Ducati.
Byrne was beaten away from pole position by the quick starting HM Plant Honda duo of Cal Crutchlow and Leon Haslam, the two riders looked most likely to compete with the former
MotoGP ace.
The other rider looking like a challenger to Byrne and the Honda's is Karl Harris on the Rob Mac Yamaha R1, the combative Sheffield rider got a decent start to lie 5th, but made two superb passes in the early couple of laps to move into third.
His ride came to an end far too quickly though, the blue Yamaha was wide at Church at the end of lap one, and into the tight chicane at the end of the lap the multiple Supersport champion was into the pit and retirement.
“We are not sure yet what has gone wrong,” said team boss Rob McElnea. “It's a bit early to make a full diagnosis, but it looks like the engine may have let go, it's such a shame as Karl has been right on the pace here and looking for a podium.”
Up front Crutchlow was holding a comfortable pace on the Honda with Haslam close behind and Byrne taking stock of the race pace in third.
Right with the top three was the NW200 backed Ducati of Michael Rutter, the veteran BSB rider looking very composed in the leading pack.
Biggest shock was Adam Jenkinson, the youngster riding a Superbike for the first time and also on a 2007 machine was holding on superbly to the quick factory machines up front. These five were pulling away from the chasing pack.
Sadly for Jenkinson, he would join Harris on the retirement list. The SMT Honda rider started to drop away from fourth placed Rutter into the clutches of the next bunch that included James Ellison, Tom Sykes and Simon Andrews. Andrews made a good pass on Jenkinson in the Complex, but as he did so, Jenkinson raised his hand and a tell tale white whisp of smoke heralded his retirement.
