Shane Byrne #67 (a.k.a. Shakey)
Personal opinion: wan last year in BSB a head of Sykes and Haslam, didn’t have the best start of the year, lets hope things will improve for him.
Shakey's high side at BSB Race 1 at Brands Hatch (Oct 2006). The race was red flagged but thankfully Shakey was up and walking within a few minutes. Saw his bike in the pits after though and was a bit on the bent side!
In 2009 season
Rides with: Sterilgarda
On: Ducati 1098R
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shane Byrne (born 10 December 1976 in Lambeth, London), often known as Shakey, is a British motorcycle road racer. He is a 2003 and 2008 British Superbike champion, World Superbike race winner, and MotoGP competitor. He currently lives in Spain with his Czechoslovakian girlfriend Petra. Shane and Petra recently celebrated the birth of their first child, a boy named Zack.
Early days
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. A test he did at a wet Oulton Park in this era impressed Paul Bird, twice his future boss.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.
Success
He then joined Renegade Ducati for 2002, taking his first BSB win, and replaced reigning champion Steve Hislop with 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 Superbike World Championship.
International racing
For 2004 he joined fellow Brit Jeremy McWilliams in MotoGP with Aprilia, although he missed several races through injury. 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.
Back to Britain
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. 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, Byrne 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. The Honda was competitive from the start, giving Shane more opportunities to fight at the front. He finished fifth overall, with a win, a pole position, and nine further podiums.
For the 2008 British Superbike championships, Byrne competes for the Airwaves Ducati squad on a Ducati 1098 alongside Leon Camier. The combination was immediately dominant. He won three of the opening four races - in the second race at Oulton Park he went wide on lap one, dropping to 13th place, but fought back. Almost immediately after he passed Cal Crutchlow for third place, Leon Haslam hit Tom Sykes, giving Byrne the lead. This race was stopped four laps early, after several riders including Crutchlow and Karl Harris fell. In race 2 at Snetterton he was held up by a crashing Harris on lap 1, dropping to 13th before fighting back to win. He finished each of the first 14 races on the podium, often coming through the field after poor starts.
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