Aboard the Paul Bird Motorsport Ninja ZX-10R, the double British Superbike Champion from the Isle of Sheppey qualified on pole position for Saturday's 16-lap race around the full 3.66-mile Arena GP track ahead of Scottish team-mate Stuart Easton. As rain started to fall, the race was reduced to nine laps.

However, after missing the pit lane closing slot as tyres were being changed, Byrne and Easton started the race from the back of the grid. Byrne was soon into his stride and despite the tricky conditions, took an easy victory.

Sadly for Easton, the Hawick rider crashed out of a podium placing after six laps causing the race to be stopped as he received medical attention. After a quick check up, it was revealed he had nothing more than knee ligament damage which meant he didn't take part in any further racing.

In front of over 65,000 fans, Byrne encountered no problems as he by over half a minute to take the prestigious Silverstone 200 title ahead of a number of British and World Championship regulars.

Shane Byrne: "The main idea was to use the meeting as a test and get some serious mileage and although the weather did its best to cause us problems, it has been a very worthwhile exercise for us. We were a bit off the pace I need to be at to be winning BSB races round here but it's hard to know how hard to push with a 35 second lead! It's a shame Stuart crashed out otherwise we could have had even more success but now I'm looking forward to Knockhill next weekend and getting back to BSB action."

Stuart Easton: "I've been a bit under the weather with an infection in my leg this past couple of weeks and the last thing I needed was to fall off but luckily I didn't do too much damage to myself other than to my knee. I'm disappointed of course as I really needed this time on the bike and had it been dry on Saturday it may have been different but well done to Shakey on the win."

Results - Silverstone 200: Race 1
1, Shane Byrne (Kawasaki - Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)
2, Richard Cooper (Triumph - Oxford TAG Triumph)
3, Christian Iddon (Triumph - Oxford TAG Triumph)

Results - Silverstone 200: Race 2
1, Shane Byrne (Kawasaki - Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki)
2, David Johnson (BMW - Carbontek Racing)
3, Luke Jones (BMW - 777RR Motorsport)

Images (courtesy of Jon Jessop):

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