Shane Byrne kickstarted his British Superbike Championship defence with a Snetterton double.

The Sittingbourne rider held off arch-rival Josh Brookes in both races to move up to second place in the standings - just seven points behind leader Luke Mossey.

Byrne said: "It’s been a good weekend and in both races, I used my head and bided my time.

"The Be Wiser Ducati team did a great job all weekend and after only getting a couple of thirds at Knockhill and with Glenn (Irwin, team-mate) getting injured, it’s good to put the smiles back on everyone’s faces, especially ahead of my home round at Brands Hatch which is next.”

Byrne dropped from pole to fourth in the opening race but quickly passed Dan Linfoot and Leon Haslam before snatching the lead off James Ellison, who later retired.

He went on to beat former champion Brookes by 3.295sec, with Jason O'Halloran third.

Byrne started from pole again in race two but it was Brookes who led into Riches, with the Kent man down to third.

Back came Byrne and on lap 14 he made his move and took the lead on the run down to Riches.

He held off a counter-attack from the Australian to win by less than seven tenths of a second.