Former MCE British Superbike Champion Shane Byrne wants to start his campaign for a record fifth title with no less than a double win at Silverstone’s season opener this weekend.
Byrne makes a return to Ducati - the brand on which he won two of his four crowns - as his PBM crew switched to the Bologna factory over winter but says that even though the Panigale is a revvy monster, it ‘still has the same footpegs as 2003’.
“It feels like a new thing, really, but there is definitely Ducati DNA in there - the footpegs are the same ones we used in 2003 - some of it feels familiar. It’s not the traditional, torquey kind of monster that gets around really fast but it is exciting to ride,” Byrne told Bikesport News at Donington’s final pre-season test.
Factory support from Ducati Corse sealed the deal for Byrne and the PBM crew to go back to their spiritual Bologna home. Byrne almost cruised to the title with Paul Bird’s crew in 2003 on a 996 and then did the same again with the Airwaves-backed GSE bike in 2008.
But the Panigale is a whole different animal to the bikes he is used to. Electronics are an integral part of how the bike even starts in the morning and it has taken Steve ‘Wilf’ Moore and the Moto Rapido Ducati team a lot of time and money and red wine to make their bike work.
“It’s one of the things that has proven a little bit difficult. Wilf has done a great job and I have seen Danny on track a couple of times, and watched him from the sidelines listening to the way his bike comes off corners and how he is riding it, sliding the thing around, and the work Wilf has done with the throttle connection is really good. We are catching up for sure.”
“My objective is to win both races at Silverstone. After such a big change and people maybe saying I won’t be able to do anything after being on the Kawasaki, it would be lovely to come back on the twin. When I won on a twin before, people said I could only ride a twin and now I have won some championships on a four-cylinder, so I think we have put that to bed.
“It’s been a while since Ducati had a win in the UK, so that would be nice to get out of the way early in the season.”
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