The teams arrived at Brands, for the first time this year, to find the Dingle Dell section of the full GP circuit had undergone a redesign, mainly for safety purposes. Despite this improvement, Byrne still managed to hurt himself during a practice spill, and the races would prove a test of his stamina. Qualifying saw Shane on the front row, but behind the Suzuki, Ducati and Kawasaki of, respectively, Reynolds, Sean Emmett and Glen Richards.

Row two was filled by Michael Rutter (on a second Renegade Ducati), Steve Hislop and Gary Mason (both Virgin Yamaha) - the latter two split by Yukio Kagayama’s second Rizla Suzuki. The third rank was led by Steve Plater’s Honda SP2, from Scott Smart (another Hawk Kawasaki), and the ETI Ducatis of John McGuinness and John Crawford.

Following problems on the warm-up lap, Richards was forced into starting his ZX-7RR from the pitlane, giving him a tougher job than anticipated. Race one then started with Reynolds, Byrne and Emmett leading into Paddock Hill Bend, already pulling clear of Rutter, Hislop, Kagayama, Mason, McGuinness and the rest as the lap unfolded. Before long they were starting to spread out, but with Byrne going away along with leader Reynolds.

The Red Bull Ducati pair’s good showing was not to last long, as Rutter was an early retirement, pulling his 998 into the pits with technical problems. Emmett was the next casualty, his sister bike sliding off the track at the Druids hairpin, possibly due to spilt oil. This left a battle for third between Hislop, Mason and Plater, with Kagayama, Smart and McGuinness now trailing after.

Byrne mounted an attack on the leading GSX-R and, further back, Mason was trying to do the same to team-mate Hislop. Indeed, the younger man appeared faster than the reigning champion on the R1, and he went past on the inside as they came to the end of the Hawthorn Hill straight. The Scot was a victim of Plater next, as the Honda man took over in fourth.

Unfortunately, the next bit of drama was when Paul Young crashed his Yamaha, bringing out the safety car while he was helped away from the scene. This had the obvious effect of bunching the pack up again, and meant that Reynolds came under attack from Byrne and Mason at the restart. Once again the first two got away from the rest of the field and, with ‘JR’ making a slight mistake coming onto the straight, as the rear of his machine tried to break away, ‘Shakey’ took the lead at Hawthorn.

By now, Mason and Plater had cleared Hislop, and he was now being pursued by the green bikes of Smart and Richards, plus McGuinness’ Ducati. With time running out, Reynolds was preparing to make a bid for the win. As they went onto the final lap, John switched to the inside at Paddock, and went through. Byrne responded by going for the tight line at Druids, and this put him back ahead.

Now Reynolds went for the inside coming off the fast stretch at Hawthorn, only to find his opponent diving back through at Westfield in another impressive inside line move. Only the final Clearways bend offered a further overtaking opportunity, but Byrne was able to hold on to the finishing line, taking his ninth win of the year. ‘JR’ was second for the third time, with Plater next after going past Mason at the flag. The remaining points went to Hislop, Richards, Smart, McGuinness, Crawford, Lee Jackson and Nick Medd, with Kagayama having become another retiree.

Race two, with Young a non-starter, saw Reynolds again make the best getaway. His team-mate was not so fortunate, as Kagayama’s front wheel came right up, and he got into a major twitch trying to control the bike. Thankfully, everyone came away unscathed, but Yukio lost quite a bit of ground as a result. Reynolds led the three Ducatis of Byrne, Emmett and Rutter, with Richards and Hislop next in the order.

Again the first two were in a class of their own, and again Byrne looked threatening in P2. Rutter took over in second, pulling away from the battle between Emmett and Richards, and behind came Mason, Hislop and Plater. Richards was in an aggressive mood on the 750, getting into a bit of a twitch as he looked to pass the TestaStretta.

Reynolds seemed to get caught up in the backmarkers as they came through the section behind the pits area, but it didn’t change the order of the first two. However, Byrne was undeterred. On the last lap, he waited until Stirlings Bend, which leads onto the back straight, before he went through on the inside to lead. Reynolds was not ready to surrender for a second time, and he got onto the inside as they went for the final bend at Clearways. It was a dramatic move, but it worked, giving John and the Suzuki their first wins of the year.

Byrne had to accept second, but it still helped him extend the points gap back to Rutter, who was third on this occasion. Emmett was fourth, his best result since race four, ahead of Richards, Mason, Hislop, Plater, Smart, Kagayama, Crawford, McGuinness, Jackson and Medd. While the battle for second has tightened up further, Shane Byrne is now 133 points clear in the lead - or more than five victories in total!

Standings after twelve races: Byrne 285; Rutter 152; Reynolds 145; Richards 131; Plater and Mason 117; Hislop 111; Kagayama 103; Crawford 74; Smart 72; Emmett 71; Jackson 55.

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