Shane Byrne powered to a fourth-round winning double in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Donington Park to tighten his grip on the title chase.

The Airwaves Ducati rider moved ahead of James Ellison in the third lap of the opening race to take the victory by 2.5 seconds from Leon Haslam who had ridden hard to overcome a poor start.

Next time out, the HM Plant Honda made the running, with Byrne sixth but the series leader was soon carving through the pack to be third with four laps to go.

With identical moves at the Melbourne Hairpin, Byrne took his title rival Cal Crutchlow to go second, and then Haslam, en route to securing his sixth victory in eight races.

Byrne now leads the standings 190 - 122 ahead of Crutchlow with a third of the season completed.

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