Shane Byrne closes the gap on BSB leader Leon Haslam ahead of final two races
Published: 00:00, 15 October 2017
Updated: 08:33, 15 October 2017
Kent's Shane Byrne has it all to play for as he goes in to Sunday's final two races of the British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch, writes Sandy Burr.
Byrne closed the gap on leader Leon Haslam to just 21 points after winning Saturday's race at his home circuit.
The 40-year-old had qualified in pole position and began the day in third place, 33 points behind Haslam.
But after crashing out of Q3 at Druids, Haslam headed up row two on the grid with Josh Brookes in second behind Byrne.
A bad start saw Byrne pushed back to sixth place but a red flag incident on lap two saw a better restart for Byrne, who pushed his way from fourth to the front by lap two of a shortened 16-lap race.
In the end, Byrne stretched his lead to a five-second advantage over Haslam, with Brookes in second - setting up a grandstand finish on the final day with 50 points up for grabs.
Meanwhile, Bradley Ray from Lydd finished in an impressive ninth place.
In his rookie year for Buildbase Suzuki, he has been taking the championship by storm in the last few races, securing his first podium at Oulton Park and sits 11th in the standings.
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KentOnline reporter