Sittingbourne's Shane Byrne was a man on a recovery mission at World Superbike round seven and couldn’t hide his delight at what he managed to achieve in America.

The 33-year-old suffered a nightmare start to race one at Miller Motorsports Park and got stuck behind the smoking engine of Jacob Smrz before being forced off course.

Byrne was demoted to the very back of the grid but showed great courage to battle his way 14 places up the field to finish sixth.

The Althea Racing rider finished one place down in seventh in a less dramatic race two as Italian Max Biaggi cruised to his third double win of the season.

Byrne’s efforts saw him take his overall tally to 81 points good enough for 12 overall and the Sittingbourne ace toasted a job well done in the American state of Utah.

“The bike felt very good and I was happy with the set up – I was just unlucky because I nearly crashed because of Smrz and ran off two laps in,” said Byrne.

“I think there must have been a bit of oil on the track from where Smrz’s bike blew because the rear came right around me.

“I thought it was going to be a massive crash but it somehow came back but I was off the track and heading for the tyre wall.

“That left me with some work to do but I felt good, the team and the bike are working really well and we were unlucky not to be further up in qualifying.

“I think we have turned a bit of a corner and the most important thing is that I need to be enjoying my riding.

“I have taken some good points and this makes me more determined as we enter the second half of the championship.”

World Superbike Championship races will be broadcast on Eurosport, with the European rounds also available in High Definition. Eurosport Sky 410 & Virgin Media 521. Eurosport HD is on Sky 412 and Virgin Media 522.