Shane Byrne (motorcycle racer)

Shane Byrne (born 10 December 1976 in Lambeth, London), often known as Shakey, is a British motorcycle road racer. He is a former British Superbike champion, World Superbike race winner, and MotoGP competitor. He currently lives in Spain with his Czechoslovakian girlfriend Petra.

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.

uccess

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 also made headlines after being accused of stealing a fan's girlfriendFact|date=March 2007. 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 (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, 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 the lead, 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.

2007 British Superbike Results

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

Round 11 - Cadwell Park - August 27th
Qualified 8th
Race 1 - 4th
Race 2 - DNF

Round 12 - Donnington Park - September 23rd
Qualified 7th
Race 1 - 3rd
Race 2 - 6th (After starting from pit lane)

Round 13 - Brands Hatch Indy - October 14th
Qualified 4th
Race 1 - 6th
Race 2 - DNF

Final Championship Position = 5th
1 Win, 2nd Places = 3, 3rd Places = 6

2008 British Superbike Results

Round 1 - Brands Hatch GP Circuit - April 6thQualified 1stMeeting abandonded due to snow.

Round 2 - Thruxton - April 20th
Qualified 1st
Race 1 - 1st
Race 2 - 2nd

Round 3 - Oulton Park - May 5th
Qualified - 2nd
Race 1 - 1st
Race 2 - 1st

Round 1a (Round 1 rescheduled) - Brands Hatch GP - May 8th
Race 1 - 1st
Race 2 - 2nd

Round 4 - Donnington Park - May 26th
Qualified - 1st
Race 1 - 1st
Race 2 - 1st

Round 5 - Snetterton - June 15th
Qualified - 1st
Race 1 - 2nd
Race 2 - 1st

Round 6 - Mallory Park - June 29th
Qualified - 3rd
Race 1 - 1st
Race 2 - 2nd

Round 7 - Oulton Park - July 20th
Qualified - 2nd
Race 1 - 3rd
Race 2 - 3rd

Round 8 - Knockhill - August 10th
Qualified - 3rd
Race 1 - 2nd
Race 2 - DNF

Round 9 - Cadwell Park - August 25th
Qualified - 3rd
Race 1 - 3rd
Race 2 - 3rd

Round 10 - Croft - September 14th
Qualified - 3rd
Race 1 - 4th
Race 2 - 5th

Round 11 - Silverstone - September 28th
Qualified - 6th
Race 1 - 3rd
Race 2 - 2nd

World Superbikes

24 hours after clinching the British Superbikes Championship, Byrne confirmed that he would contest the 2009 World Superbikes championship with the Sterilgarda Ducati team, teamed with Alex Polita [http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wsbk/news/170162-0/polita_joins_byrne_at_sterilgarda.html] . This is his first full-time World Superbike campaign, although he has made successful wild card appearances in the past [ [http://www.carolenash.com/insidebikes/bike-news/byrne-confirms-wsb-move.htm Insidebikes World Superbike News] ]

ee also

*2006 British Superbike season

External links

* [http://www.shakey.com/news.asp Official website]

References

Citations

* [http://www.f1network.net/main/s180/st99889.htm Rizla Suzukis stolen]
* [http://www.f1network.net/main/s180/st100261.htm Rizla Suzukis recovered]