Byrne: 'I was having that one'

Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki's Shane 'Shakey' Byrne bounced back from a fuelling problem that saw him languish in 11th place on Sunday to claim his first MCE British Superbike victory of 2012 at Oulton Park. Londoner Byrne won the third and final race of the Bank Holiday triple-header after earlier finishing as the runner-up to veteran Chris Walker in tricky conditions. “We had an issue with fuelling in Sunday's race and that was a bit of a disaster but we made some changes for today's first race and it didn't help that it was damp,” said Byrne. “I was controlling the first race but had no answer for Chris Walker when he came past but in race two, I was having that one. "It's great to win again and even better to be just 10 points off the lead, whilst racking up the podium credits." His team-mate, Stuart Easton – who battled from a lowly grid position to finish ninth on Sunday – has plenty of reason to celebrate after returning to the rostrum for the first time since his life-threatening accident at the North West 200 road races in 2011. The Scot finished fifth in race two in the damp before improving to claim third position in the final race at his favourite circuit. "It's been a good weekend and I'm especially pleased to get my first podium of the season. I thought if I could make a break, I may be able to hold them off but as the race progressed, I started to fade as I'm still not bike fit,” he said. “I'm really pleased to see 'Shakey' take the win and our first and third place finish was the best for the team, and with both Shakey and me inside the top four of the standings we are well placed going into Snetterton." Northern Ireland's Keith Farmer was ruled out of the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 race after a crash in qualifying, denying him the chance to add to his brace of wins in the first two rounds of the championship. However, Farmer still leads the championship after he dropped just five points at the top.