Heart-brake for Shakey.

MonsterMob Ducati rider Shane Byrne relinquished his near perfect record in the British Superbike Championship with a ninth place finish in race one before getting back to business with another rostrum finish in race two in front of a record crowd at Mondello Park, Co Kildare today.

A first corner collision bent the 26 year old Kent rider's brake lever and ended the challenge to maintain his 100 per cent rostrum record in the opening leg, meaning he had to settle for ninth at the flag. However, 'Shakey' bounced back to take second place in an incident packed race two to keep his Championship challenge back on course.

"I couldn't believe it when I clipped the back of Scott Smart and bent the brake lever. I thought I'd be lucky to finish and I ended up cooking the rear tyre as I tried to make up time. However, I'm more than happy with second in race two and hope to get winning again at Oulton," said Byrne who still leads the Championship by 135 points after double winner John Reynolds closed the gap.

But the team did taste the victor's champagne in the form of defending Supersport Champion Stuart Easton who put in a late charge to seal his second win of the season.

The 19 year old from Hawick made his move with five laps to go to clinch victory and with main rival Karl Harris scoring lowly, he reduced the gap to 40 points.

"It's the little bit of luck I needed and hopefully I can capitalise from here. The bike and tyres worked well and I'm very happy with the result," said the Scot.

Team owner Paul Bird remained optimistic despite losing a few points in the Superbike Championship chase but was delighted with Easton's win.

"We were due some bad luck and if that's it then I'll settle for it," noted Bird, "It's been a tough weekend but I'm happy with the outcome and look forward to the next round."

Picture courtesy of Double Red.