HOPKINS GETS HIS BEST RESULT OF THE SEASON BUT THE SHOWDOWN START DOESN’T GO TO PLAN FOR SHAKEY AT OULTON PARK

The opening Showdown round at Oulton Park brought mixed results for the two Ducati teams. Moto Rapido celebrated John ‘Hopper’ Hopkin’s best finish of the season to date, while poor visibility for Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne during Race 1 and a mistake in race 2 hampered his title challenge in both races.

John ‘Hopper’ Hopkins scored his best result of the season to date for his Moto Rapido Ducati team during Race 1 at Oulton Park after battling Leon Haslam for the race win.

Hopper had lined up for the wet race 6th on the grid, but initially lost a position on his opening lap. But by a third race distance Hopper was already up into 3rd position behind Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) and Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW), posting consecutive fastest laps of the race on Laps 7 and 8.

On the next lap Iddon crashed out, promoting Hopper to 2nd and Leon Haslam (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) to 3rd. Haslam went on to pass on Hopper for 2nd but Hopper did not let Haslam escape, sticking with the Kawasaki rider as the race entered its final phase.

Linfoot had now built up a sizeable lead but retired on Lap 15 after an engine failure. This meant the fight between Haslam and Hopper was now for the race win. But before Hopper could challenge Haslam the race was Red Flagged, with Linfoot’s bike having caused track contamination between Island Bend and Shell Oils Corner. The premature end to the race denied Hopper a shot at victory but did result in a season-best 2nd place position.

Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne’s start to the Showdown didn’t go to plan for the Be Wiser Ducati rider. Shakey was happy with his P2 front row qualifying position and went on to start the race at the front of the pack after pole-sitter Jake Dixon (RAF Regular and Reserves) damaged his bike during the morning Warm Up session and had to start from pit lane.

Unfortunately, Shakey’s race was hampered by poor vision and he dropped positions as it worsened, crossing the chequered flag in 9th position.

His Be Wiser Ducati teammate Glenn Irwin, who won his maiden British Superbike victory at the last round at Silverstone, had failed to make it through to the final qualifying session yesterday and started from 13th. But despite gaining 4 positions on his opening lap, Irwin eventually brought his Panigale home less than a second behind Shakey and finished in 11th.

With visibility issues hampering Shakey’s opening Race 1 lap times at Oulton Park, the Be Wiser Ducati rider started Race 2 during the opening Showdown round from the back of the 4th row in 12th position.

Shakey made progress throughout the race and was able to pass James Ellison (McAms Yamaha) for 6th after the rider had an issue on Lap 9. On the next lap Shakey then put a move on Christian Iddon to take 5th. He then had space in front of him as went on to chase down the leading pack of Leon Haslam, Dan Linfoot, Jake Dixon and Bradley Ray (Buildbase Suzuki) taking almost a second out of the group on his first lap chasing the group down. But Shakey clipped the kerb at Britten’s on Lap 15, losing of couple of places to Josh Brookes (Anvil Tag Hire Yamaha) and Peter Hickman (Smiths Racing BMW), going on to finish his race in that 7th place position.

Glenn Irwin started just behind Shakey in 13th but lost a couple of positions at the start. By two thirds race distance he was ahead of Jakub Smrz (Lloyd Jones/PR Racing) in 12th, but only 0.171s behind Sylvain Guintoli as he chased down the Bennetts Suzuki rider. Irwin ran off track briefly but was able to hold on to his position to finish the race in 12th just ahead of Smrz.

Hopper had lined up on the front row in 3rd after posting impressive laps times during Race 1. The American was swamped as the field entered Old Hall Corner for the first time and down to 5th. He made an early move on Iddon to take 4th but ran wide at Shell Oils Corner and lost the place. Hopper was looking comfortable in 5th as he prepared to retake the position, but on Lap 4 lost the front of his bike at Britten’s chicane ending his race early.

Shakey leaves Oulton Park 3rd in the British Superbikes Championship, a single point behind Brookes and 23 points behind new leader Haslam.

I was having some serious visibility issues and kept having to rub my visor. It was just the track being a little bit dirty. It was just in a battle around the guys I was with. It was a battle with Iddon and he unfortunately went down. And then it was a battle with Leon. But I just wanted to ride my own race, get my head down. I just want to thank the Moto Rapido Ducati guys so much. It’s nice to finally get on the podium and give the guys the results they deserve.”

“It’s a bit difficult to find the words at the moment and after having three poor rounds, I was feeling really positive coming into Oulton, especially after finishing first and second here in May. This was the part of the season I was looking forward to the most and where the real stuff was going to start but Friday was a disaster ending the day over a second off the pace. Fair play to Giovanni and the team though, they turned the bike around for qualifying and it was only my mistake that cost us pole. We had a wet warm up on Sunday but I was quick and thought to myself ‘I’m up for this’ but after about three laps of the race, I was really struggling to see.

I don’t know if there was some fuel vapour in the air but I couldn’t see a thing and when I saw 10 laps to go on my pit board, my heart sank. I tried everything to clear the visor but ended up 9th, whilst a poor lap time gave me a rubbish grid position for Race 2. I knew what I needed to do and got my head down to reel the boys in, but although I was giving 120% they weren’t coming back quickly enough. And when you try hard like that, you end up making mistakes which is what I did, clipping the kerb at Britten’s for example. I’m not even going to look at the points table but all I know is that things can change quickly in bike racing and this is far from over.”

“I’m struggling from the crash [at Knockhill] It’s going to take time to get back to where I was. It’s such a positive weekend with the news that I’m staying for next year but that wasn’t a cool way to back it up. It’s not a reflection of what I can do but I don’t need to say it because I’ve put it on paper what I can do. But I need to regroup for Assen.”