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The first British Superbike race at Silverstone was something of a microcosm of the whole 2008 season.

In it, Shane Byrne did what he had to do without histrionics or flashy overtakes. He did the job cleanly and smoothly and when he had a couple of warnings from the Airwaves Ducati that the tyres were going off he just knocked the pace back slightly to make sure of the finish.

But it was also the luck of the other riders, either by their own or other's actions that so underlined the season just passed.

James Ellison highsided himself out of the race and appeared to collect Michael Laverty en route to the gravel trap. Tom Sykes tried to overtake Cal Crutchlow and ended up losing control of his Suzuki, collecting long time rival Leon Haslam in a mass of metal and bodies.

And while all this was going on Byrne kept banging in good lap times consistently, and he was the man who lifted the title after that first outing at Silverstone.

It was a fitting way to take the crown and echoed exactly how the first half of the British Superbike Championship played out this year. Shane got off to a great start at Thruxton in round one and from there rapidly built up a strong points lead over the next few rounds.

But from there he had a tough fight on his hands as Sykes, Haslam, Crutchlow and Leon Camier all got up to speed. Suddenly the mechanical problems and in-fighting that the group of young guns were plagued with in the first half of the year were forgotten and we were treated to some thrilling races.

In fact, Byrne has now not won a race out of the last 11. But it was while the rest of the gang were sharing wins out between them that Shane carried on bagging podiums (he's only finished off the podium in four races all year long) and it's here where he won the title.

It is a title well deserved and praise is rightly being heaped on both him and his team from their rivals in the paddock.

And while we're on the subject of Superbikes, Sykes' second race performance from 17th on the grid for a third place finish was pretty incredible in itself showing the sort of pace he is taking to WSB next year when he rides the factory Yamaha. Brilliant stuff from the Suzuki man.

We also saw Glen Richards crowned as British Supersport champion after his gripping battle with the likes of Hudson Kennaugh, Steve Brogan and Steve Plater this year.

Richards is one of the most naturally gifted riders we've ever seen in the UK and although there's been a bit of needle between Glen and Hudson, they are both supremely fast riders who bring out the best in each other on track.

Their bikes too have been excellent all year long. Both MAP Embassy Racing Triumph with Glen and Hudson's Raceways Yamaha have been superbly prepared and brought up to speed which has been great to watch as the duo slugged it out on track.

I hope that Glen can indeed find his way to the British Superbike Championship for next year, with so many of the current crop of BSB off on world duty he should be able to land a good seat and the last time he was in the class he was on a 750 during the times when they were up against 1000cc Ducatis.

During that time Glen's style really suited the bigger bike, and as he showed this year, his riding is now even better, fingers crossed for that big bike ride in 2009.

I would absolutely love to see Hudson on the bigger bike too, but as he said during our live show on Sunday he's most likely to stay in the British Supersport class for next year and try to win it before going for a bigger bike option.

Which will at least guarantee plenty of spectacular action in the manic middleweights.

But what Sunday shows, and promises, is an absolute thriller of a meeting at Brands Hatch when the curtain comes down on the BSB Championship for the winter in a couple of week's time.

That finale is going to be something very special indeed. For most riders the pressure is off, for some like Leon Haslam and Tom Sykes they are locked in a their own Championship struggle with Leon now 18 points ahead of Tom in the BSB scrap for second place overall.

It all means we're going to have lots of cracking action at Brands Hatch on the very tight, very tricky Indy circuit.

We'll see you live from 12pm on October 12, all live as usual.

Tony Carter / Eurosport