Shane Byrne crashed out of both races as he made his World Superbike debut in Australia at the weekend.

Byrne slid out of race one after seven laps and crashed his Ducati again in race two at the Phillip Island circuit.

The Sittingbourne racer started Sunday’s opening round 15th on the grid for Team Sterilgarda.

He said: “I had a good start in race 1 but I noticed that the tyres were slipping in an odd way in the early laps. I tried to recover but after seven laps I slipped.”

Byrne damaged his hand in the crash but managed to make the grid for Sunday’s second race but after 11 laps he fell again.

“While I was trying to overtake Jakub Smrz I got very wide on the final corner. I tried to hold trajectory but the steering wheel locked up and I crashed.”

It was a tough introduction for Byrne who now looks ahead to Round 2 in Qatar on March 14.

“I started to understand how hard-fought the World Superbike Championship is, especially in the first laps,” added Byrne.

Team manager Marco Borciani said: “We haven’t done well but we won’t lose heart.”