As expected, Shinya Nakano has signed to join Max Biaggi in the works Aprilia World Superbike team for the 2009 season.

The MotoGP refugee was part of a deal to run a third Kawasaki in the sports blue riband class but it fell apart when Jorge Martinez's sponsors said they wanted a Spanish rider.

"I am happy indeed, for me it is a joy to belong to the Aprilia family. Here I have found a big tradition and extraordinary competence in the races that Aprilia faces with high professionalism, and the 33 world titles won up to today are confirmation of this," said Nakano.

"Superbike is a new challenge, I want to risk all of my experience to help the new Aprilia RSV4 project. It will be a honor to be able to race beside Max Biaggi, he is a hero of mine and he was an inspiration to me in the first phases of my career, I am sure that together we will succeed in developing the best motorbike and to already get good results in the season 2009."