by Luke Cawdell

A nine-point lead for Shane Byrne ahead of the season finale at Brands Hatch this weekend means absolutely nothing.

Byrne, pictured, leads the chasing pack in the British Superbike Championship by a slender margin and with three races to go during the last round he knows anything can happen.

"I would be quite happy going into Brands without the lead," said Sittingbourne’s two-time British Superbike champion.

"Nine points is totally irrelevant when there are 75 up for grabs. That lead means nothing and we’re going to have to attack every race like the first one of the season."

Byrne and five other riders have been the ‘title fighters’ for the last few rounds. The championship format means that the top six riders after round nine at Donington had their points reset to 500 with podium credits earned during the season added to that.

It was a system that hit Byrne hard last year, as despite accumulating more points than any other rider and leading for most of the championship, he dropped off the pace in the latter stages and finished third. Under traditional points scoring he would have been champion.

Byrne has 608 points with Josh Brookes sitting second ahead of Alex Lowes (584), Tommy Hill (566) Michael Laverty (559) and Tommy Bridwell (544). The first race is on Saturday afternoon and the other two on Sunday.

Picture: Simon Hildrew