Kiyonari and his Buildbase BMW.

RYUICHI Kiyonari has apologised to Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne regarding the incident that brought both of them crashing down and out of Oulton Park’s race two yesterday.

On the 16th lap of race two, Kiyonari and Byrne were battle for the lead, but it ended prematurely as the Japanese rider clipped the rear wheel of Byrne as they went into Hizzy’s and the pair crashed out of the race.

Kiyonari explained: “It felt unbelievably good and I was more confident. I had been enjoying a good battle with Shakey until the crash; it was like last year again! Into Hizzys our entry speed was completely different and I carried more speed, but I don’t want to use an excuse. 

“All I was thinking was ‘go Shakey, go’, when I just touched the brake, then I thought ‘no, no, no’. I was in pain when I hit the ground, but I feel ok. All I can say is that I am sorry to Shakey, our teams and the fans. We would have had more battles and I destroyed that. I went and apologised after the race.”

Byrne said: “I was feeling confident and really happy and I waited until two thirds race distance and then I wanted to make some moves.

“I put two moves on Kiyo and the second one was much more decisive. I went into Hizzys and for a moment I thought I had just run in with a bit too much back brake on and spun the bike around.

“Then as I was rolling through the grass I noticed Kiyo’s bike come flying passed and I thought ‘ah, that wasn’t the case’. It is what it is. I have an awful lot of respect and admiration for Kiyo as a rider and I know full well that would have been the last thing he intended.

“I also know how bad it feels for those split seconds before the collision because you make a decision and you don’t get a choice to back out of it, you know straight away it isn’t going to work and wish you could disappear or the ground would swallow you up before you hit the other person.

“He has been around and said sorry. It is a bit frustrating as I felt I had that win in the bag but at the same time I am over the moon for the PBM team and Stuart as I was cheering him from the wall at Hizzys.”

The fourth round of the 2015 British Superbike Championship takes place at Snetterton on June 21.