The race – extended from 20 to 23 laps after an earlier safety car incident – was stopped, and Crutchlow was rewarded for his guts and persistence for fighting through an injury that had left him soaking his dislocated ankle in ice after he finished third in the opening leg.
Byrne finished second, just 0.110 seconds behind, and Leon Camier inherited third place on the second Airwaves Ducati. Michael Laverty (Relentless Suzuki), Michael Rutter (NW200 Ducati) and Leon Haslam (HM Plant Honda) completed the top six.
"We came here with the sole intention of collecting points for the championship," Crutchlow said. "So a first and third is good. We're trying to keep the championship challenge alive. Shakey would have challenged me if the race hadn't been stopped, but luckily we hung on."
"I got another awful start and was down to ninth or something terrible on the first lap," Byrne admitted.
"I got a big faceful of oil as Tom went down," Camier said. "It was frustrating because I was catching the leaders at a pretty good rate."
After six of the 24 races Byrne now leads the series with 140 points, with Crutchlow holding on in second place on 96 points, and Camier on 83.
Sunday pm - Kennaugh Survives Three Starts to Take Supersport
Hudson Kennaugh, the 27-year-old South African, performed two drag-race getaways from safety car intervals on his Raceways Yamaha to win the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport championship race by 3.24 seconds.
Series leader Glen Richards made a poor start from the front row on his 675cc MAP Embassy Triumph, and was only sixth as riders streamed through the initial corners. He used the torque of the British triple to power up to second place, but was still 3.6 seconds behind Kennaugh with 12 laps to go when the safety car came out for the second time.
