Alex Lowes leading the way in the opening Superbike race at Snetterton.

British Superbike Championship (BSB) frontrunners Alex Lowes and Shane Byrne shared the spoils on a closely-contested day of racing at Snetterton to conclude the fifth round of the series.

Samsung Honda’s Lowes was on pole to kick off proceedings on Sunday but the early advantage went to Aussie Josh Brookes, who made the best start in race one to lead the field early in the piece.

Brookes’ advantaged was negated when a safety car was deployed to retrieve the stricken machine of Tommy Bridewell. When the race resumed it was Lowes, who had been running in third, who seized the opportunity not only pick off Byrne but muscle his way past Brookes.

Once in the lead Lowes edged out the necessary advantage while Brookes and Byrne would battle over second place. The podium placings would remain in order as the main protagonists in the Title Fighters showdown retained their stellar form.

Fourth was Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison, from Ryuichi Kiyonari in fifth.

Positions six through 10 were determined by less than one second, with James Westmoreland leading the way from Robbin Harms, Jakub Smrz, Australia’s Josh Waters and Matteo Baiocco.

In the second race Byrne returned fire, and showed his characteristic pace once more after rectifying setup issues aboard is Kawasaki.

The points leader took the early race lead with Brookes, Ellison and Westmoreland in tow. The leaders saw their momentum halted once more when another safety car came out following a crash involving Jon Kirkham and Robbin Harms.

When the race continued it was Brookes’ turn to apply the pressure to Byrne, and on lap 11 he came close to making a move stick before having to run his bike across the grass to avoid making contact.

The mistake dropped Brookes to third, with Lowes benefiting from his misfortune to take up the fight in second.

Lowes came within 0.245 seconds of another win but couldn’t find a way past Byrne who was pleased to record another strong haul of points given the struggles he faced in the opening race.

“The first race was dreadful for me – I didn’t enjoy it,” said Byrne. “I couldn’t turn the bike, nearly lost the front at Oggies on the warm up lap. It was very difficult.”

“I was so frustrated. I had to ride and not race, and I want to race to win. The team worked really hard to make changes and I felt more confident to be able to push hard and settled down in the second one.

“I went from wanting to kill the team to wanting to marry them in the space of two races!”

Lowes was delighted with his best overall results of 2013 thus far.

“I really enjoyed the races and in the second one I tried to get into a position to try and take Shakey but I never quite got there,” said Lowes.

“I learned a lot from him over the last five laps, but he didn’t make any mistakes and rode really well.

“I’ve worked so hard all weekend to be up here at the front, putting in so many laps after the nightmare of Friday when we had problems.

“I stopped Shakey’s run of wins earlier today, shown him what we can do and also hit back after my disappointment at Knockhill.”

Byrne’s class lead edges out to 32 points following round five, with Lowes leapfrogging Brookes to move to second.

Waters was able to round out the weekend with a seventh place finish in race two to show his testing progress is helping to turn around his form on the racetrack.

He moves to 13th on the table with the 9-7 finish at Snetterton.

Gearlink Kawasaki’s Alastair Seeley collected sprint and feature wins in the Supersport class to re-take the lead following a successful showing at Snetterton.

Seeley won the sprint race by 5.339 seconds over the Triumph of Luke Mossey and fellow Gearlink ZX-6R runner Ben Wilson.

Australians Billy McConnell and Jason O’Halloran fought right to the wave of the chequered flag, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

Seeley won the second race from Wilson, with McConnell moving through to take the final place on the podium.

O’Halloran had led the pack on the opening lap but was forced to retire when he was shown the mechanical flag due to his Samsung Honda losing its belly pan on lap three.

Seeley’s lead of the class is now 40 points from Stuart Easton, who struggled from the outset of the Snetterton weekend, with Wilson moving into third.

Superstock 1000 race victory went to Hudson Kennaugh, with Adam Jenkinson second and Lee Jackson third.

Jordan Simpkin won the Superstock 600 race, with Luke Hedger and Chrissy Rouse filling the minor podium places.

It was another encouraging race for the Aussie competitors, with all three finishing within the top ten.

Levi Day led the way with fifth on his Moto-Breakers Kawasaki, marginally ahead of Mark Wilkinson on the Gearlink Kawasaki.

James Mutton showed strong form to record a ninth-place finish in his new role at the Seton Tuning Yamaha team.

The championship resumes at the Brands Hatch GP circuit on 19-21 July.

British Superbike Championship
Round Five – Snetterton, Norfolk
Superbike Race One:
1. Alex Lowes
2. Josh Brookes
3. Shane Byrne
4. James Ellison
5. Ryuichi Kiyonari
6. James Westmoreland
7. Robbin Harms
8. Jakub Smrz
9. Josh Waters
10. Matteo Baiocco

Superbike Race Two:
1. Shane Byrne
2. Alex Lowes
3. Josh Brookes
4. Ryuichi Kiyonari
5. James Westmoreland
6. Chris Walker
7. Josh Waters
8. Dan Linfoot
9. James Ellison
10. Matteo Baiocco

Click here for detailed results