KENT motorcycle ace Shane Byrne will go into round six of the Moto GP season on June 27 with a fair degree of confidence.

Byrne dug deep and came back from a slow start to secure his third points-scoring finish last Sunday.

After recovering from the disappointing start in a hard-fought, exciting 25-lap race at Catalunya, the man from Minster, near Sheerness, fought his way back to 13th place.

“In front of 102,000 fans at the 4.727km venue the reigning British superbike champion settled into his rythm and by the halfway stage had clawed his way up into 19th.

By lap 20 he had moved up to 13th to leave him on the fringe of the top 15 in the world championship standings.

On his official team Aprilia website, Byrne said: “I got a bad start and my race didn’t really get going until about the fourth lap.

“After that I’m pleased to have finished in the points because my objective before the season started was to try and score top 15 finishes in every race.

“I was confident after my result in Mugello where I got my first top 10 and hopefully I can keep the run going in round six in Assen, Holland on June 27.”