Shane Byrne says he needs to remain grounded after securing two second places at the 2016 season opener having almost pushed past the limit scrapping for victory at Silverstone.

The Be Wiser Ducati rider narrowly missed out a winning start to 2016 with the Panigale R in race one finishing half a second behind Michael Laverty.

Facing a similar prospect on the final lap of race two, Byrne became involved in a thrilling last corner battle with Peter Hickman. After taking the lead at Brooklands with Hickman running deep he was pushed wide by the JG Speedfit Kawasaki rider at Luffield, forcing a sprint to the chequered flag which he just lost out in by 0.099s.

In his desperation to secure victory, Byrne applied the throttle too aggressively around Woodcote sending him into a heart-in-mouth slide which nearly threw him into a high-side.

Byrne says the natural competitor came out in him and was gunning for the win to reward his PBM team for its efforts transforming the Panigale R into a competitive package in BSB after the squad switched from Kawasaki machinery over the winter.

"I desperately wanted to reward by boys with a win today and that would have happened if I was racing in the KTM Cup or BSB, I'd still want to win," Byrne said. "I sat behind Peter Hickman trying to plan where I could make my pass and there were a couple of places but it involved getting the two sectors before absolutely perfect and when you are on the limit it is difficult, especially with someone in front of you trying to make time in areas and costing you in others. We'll take a lot from this weekend and I'm sure we are only going to get better."

Despite missing out on the win, Byrne's two runner-up rostrums have given him an early lead in the championship and he also leaves with the most podium credits (6) looking ahead to the BSB Showdown.

"I have to keep giving myself a dig in the ribs to realise this is all brand new and it was never going to be the case of getting the bike turning up and winning," he said. "The work the team has done with the bike so far has been fantastic and I gave 110% to try to reward them with a win.

"Onwards and upwards though and we need to keep our feet on the ground by thinking how long it took some of the other teams to fix the similar sort of problems that we are having with our bike at the moment. To come away from here with the championship lead is a testament to the team."