Shane Byrne

Shane Byrne (born 10 December 1976 in Lambeth, London), often known as Shakey or Shaky, is a British motorcycle road racer.

While working as a road tester for Colin Schiller's Fast Bikes magazine, Shakey sat and passed his motorcycle test on a Ducati 996 SPS.

Shane emerged in the British Superbike Championship in 1999, initially on a private Kawasaki. In 2001 he was 8th in the championship with 5 top-5 finishes, and was comfortably champion of the Cup for privateers - he was the privateer winner in 22 races out of 26. He then joined Renegade Ducati for 2002, taking his first BSB win, and MonsterMob for 2003. He stunned the paddock by storming to a string of wins, taking the title with ease. He impressed further by achieving a double win at Brands Hatch for the British round of the World Superbike Championship.

For 2004 he joined fellow Brit Jeremy McWilliams in MotoGP with Aprilia, although he missed several races through injury. He also made headlines after being accused of stealing a fan's girlfriendTemplate:Fact. He spent much of 2005 racing for Kenny Roberts' team on a KTM MotoGP bike, before they were forced to pull out due to an internal dispute between the chassis and engine manufacturers. He raced in Malaysia and Qatar for Camel Honda, but did not impress Honda enough to earn a 2006 ride.

For 2006 he returned to the British Superbike championship with Rizla Suzuki. His first podium came in race 7, despite a severe stomach bug that weekend. He missed races 11 and 12 after a 187 mph crash caused by a brake failure, although he was not seriously hurt. At Knockhill he qualified 2nd, and followed a 2nd place finish in race 1 with the team's first win of the season in race 2. This was despite the team's bikes having been stolen and dumped in a barn alongside horse manure a week previously (see below). At the final round of the season he was running 3rd when he highsided, being knocked out in the process. Although he again escaped serious injury, he was unable to contest the final race of the year, which meant he slipped from 4th to 6th in the championship standings.

For 2007, Shane was re-united with his former Monstermob boss Paul Bird who was now running the Stobart Vent-Axia team, a privateer team using the 1000cc Honda Fireblade. Unlike with his often less than successful return to BSB with the Rizla Suzuki team, the Honda was competitive from the start, giving Shane more opportunities to fight at the front.

2007 British Superbike Season

Round 1 - Brands Hatch GP Circuit - April 9th Qualified 7th Race 1 - 4th Race 2 - 13th

Round 2 - Thruxton - April 15th Qualified 3rd Race 1 - 4th Race 2 - 3rd

Round 3 - Silverstone - April 29th Qualified 3rd Race 1 - DNF Race 2 - DNF

Round 4 - Oulton Park - May 7th Qualified 6th Race 1 - 6th Race 2 - 3rd

Round 5 - Snetterton - May 20th Qualified 1st Race 1 - DNF Race 2 - 3rd

Round 6 - Mondello Park - June 17th Qualified 6th Race 1 - 2nd Race 2 - 2nd

Round 7 - Knockhill - July 1st Qualified 8th Race 1 - 4th Race 2 - 5th

Round 8 - Oulton Park - July 15th Qualified 8th Race 1 - 2nd Race 2 - 3rd

Round 9 - Mallory Park - July 22nd Qualification is cancelled Race 1 - 1st Race 2 - 3rd

Round 10 - Croft - August 12th Qualified 11th (crashed out of qualifying session) Race 1 - 9th Race 2 - 7th

See Also

• 2006 British Superbike season

External links

• Official website

Citations

• Rizla Suzukis stolen
• Rizla Suzukis recovered