Eight years on from Shane Byrne’s career ending crash in a BSB test at Snetterton, the five-time champion has got back on a bike for the first time.

In fact, Byrne has ridden several bikes this year, after Ducati got in touch with him about taking part in their centenary celebrations at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Byrne won three of his five BSB titles with Ducati, but the Panigale V4 S he was loaned was the first bike he’d ridden since that crash at Snetterton eight years ago.

“I got asked about doing the Ducati Centenary anniversary at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and I can’t even begin to tell you how good it was to be back on the Panigale there,” Byrne wrote in a blog post on the Ducati UK website. 

“But in the lead up I spoke to Sara Falzolgher at Ducati UK, and she said it was no problem to lend me some motorcycles to ride. 

“I haven't really ridden in like the eight years or so since my accident. And the first bike they sent me was a Panigale V4 S Corse! It’s hard to say how that made me feel getting on that after such such a long time off. To get on something as just remarkably capable as the V4 S, it was like ‘Oh, my God. How much did the game change?’ It was really, really interesting for me.   

“The thing that struck me the most was after the V4 S, Ducati UK loaned me the Hypermotard V2 SP. And the way that I rode that compared to the Panigale was completely different. 

“For all I thought what the Hypermotard was going to be like and how I’d ride it, I actually found myself going completely away from that and just plodding through little country lanes and riding it out on little single-track roads and stuff like that. And I loved it, happy as a sandboy.   

“But last week, they delivered me a Multistrada V4 RS. Straight away, I said to my daughter, because it's school holidays, ‘We're going for a ride’. 

“This was the model that I was really looking forward to. I think if you had to choose one bike that did everything, it's like almost mission impossible, but in terms of perfection, in terms of steering, in terms of performance, in terms of capability, to go a long way, to go a short way, to being in traffic, to do whatever, I think you're going to be pretty hard pushed to beat that Multistrada. So far, so very, very good!”