BSB: Shakey Doubles at Brands

With the British Superbike title sewn up, Shane Byrne was able to relax for the final round of the year at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, taking a magnificent double victory. Leon Haslam and Cal Crutchlow tied up second and third places in the championship. Michael Rutter made history with his 300th superbike race start, and ran the number 300 for the weekend to celebrate, while Karl Harris was forced to withdraw and was replaced by John Kirkham.

Race 1
The riders were held for a long time on the grid when one of the back row starters stalled, but when the lights finally went out, Cal Crutchlow made the best start to lead into Paddock Hill bend on his HM Plant Honda, with the rest of the pack managing to miss each other and slot in behind. Airwaves Ducati's Shane Byrne also started well, as did James Ellison, running higher on the Hydrex Bike Animal Honda than he has done for most of the year. Crutchlow's team-mate Leon Haslam was in fourth place, riding injured after a dopey-looking crash in qualifying when he looked over his shoulder and immediately highsided into a gravel trap, dislocating his collar bone. Byrne's team-mate Leon Camier was in fifth, while the long wait on the grid had caused Tom Sykes to damage the clutch of his Rizla Suzuki and make a poor start, running in sixth.

Coming into Druids for the second time, Shane Byrne was able to take a wide, swooping line on his Ducati to pass Crutchlow for the lead. After that, the top six pretty much held station until the end of the 30-lap race. The gaps opened and closed, but nobody managed to pass anyone else. Seventh placed Michael Laverty on the Relentless Suzuki was closing in on Sykes, but he dropped back and eventually retired with a technical problem. This promoted NW200 Ducati veteran Michael Rutter to eighth. Gary Mason was the leading privateer on the Quay Garage Honda.

It had been Shakey Byrne's first win for months, having had to carefully nurse his championship lead for the last few rounds. He celebrated with a Valentino Rossi style sidesaddle wheelie and a rolling burnout.

Read my full report, including the much more exciting race 2, of the second Brands Hatch round of the British Superbikes at Motorbikesport.

WSBK Silliness: Shakey and Spies, But No Sylvain

The latest update on the World Superbike Silly Season is that the series will have Shakey Byrne and Ben Spies, but will sadly be sans Sylvain Guintoli.

This year's British Superbike champion Shane "Shakey" Byrne has officially signed for Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati in WSBK next year. That should satisfy his desire to remain on a Ducati 1098R but move to the World championship, and I'll be expecting him to go very very quickly. Of course, he doesn't know all the tracks, but he knows a few of them from his MotoGP days.

Ben Spies has signed to partner Tom "Grinner" Sykes at the Yamaha Italia squad in WSBK. It's a bit strange for Yamaha to have two young rookies who don't know most of the tracks. Sykes knows Brands Hatch and Donington well, while Spies will know Miller Motorsports Park in the USA, and he's been round Donington too. Of course, Spies would have known a bit about Assen but he controversially refused to replace the injured Loris Capirossi in the MotoGP round there, an incident that may have helped seal his snub from Suzuki. Anyway, both these kids are extremely quick. The funniest thing about it may well be the first time that Sykesy beats Spies. We'll see how the Texan's ego copes with that.

Finally, according to a scoop in BikeSportNews, MotoGP reject Sylvain Guintoli will not move to WSBK on a Yamaha, but will actually move to British Superbikes to replace Tom Sykes on a Crescent Suzuki (currently Rizla Suzuki, but it's not known who will sponsor them next year). Sylvain is a really nice bloke, but there's no two ways around the fact that he's been outperformed on the Alice Ducati since Toni Elias got his groove back. Since the Frenchman lives in England, the BSB rounds will be much less of a commute than he's used to. He'll be looking to impress on a Superbike and score a switch to World Supers.

BSB Silverstone: Shakey is Champion

Shane Byrne finally secured his second British Superbike title at Silverstone, while Leon Camier and Leon Haslam took the victories in a day of crashing on the flat, featureless track.

Race 1
Cal Crutchlow started from pole position, but it was his HM Plant Honda team-mate Leon Haslam who blasted off the grid and into the lead. Crutchlow slotted into second place in front of Rizla Suzuki rider Tom Sykes, while James Ellison came from nowhere to take fourth on his Bike Animal Honda, ahead of NW200's Michael Rutter in fifth.

Karl Harris was running well until he flew off the track across the grass, luckily finding some tarmac used by the F1 cars. He had already had a hair-raising moment as he launched past Ellison at the hairpin, hanging Rutter out to dry at the same time. Harris rejoined, but was a long way down the pack. In all the confusion, Michael Laverty took his Relentless Suzuki into fourth spot.

There was soon carnage at the idiotic chicane which leads into the final corner. This slow, slow left/right flick has no place on a major bike racing track, and this would become painfully obvious as Haslam turned left, only to be torpedoed by Tom Sykes. Haslam limped over to his bike, motioned to the marshals to pick it up, and rejoined the race. Tom Sykes also rejoined, but was delayed as he bump started his Suzuki. This collision was eerily reminiscent of the pair's crash at Oulton Park earlier this year, when Haslam was excluded from the race results for a kamikaze attack on Sykes. This time, with the roles reversed, Sykes was excluded from the results and suffered a swingeing 12 place penalty on the grid for race 2...

Read the rest of my British Superbike Silverstone race review at Motorbikesport.

WSBK: Silly Search for Bayliss Replacement

World Superbikes usually has a good silly season, but the search for the new Troy Bayliss just keeps getting sillier and sillier. The Aussie star leads the championship on his Xerox Ducati 1098F08, but has finally decided that he will retire at the end of the year.

The trouble with replacing Bayliss is that he's one of the best riders in the history of Superbike. Choosing between him and Ducati's other WSBK legend Carl Fogarty is largely a matter of whether you prefer laid-back Australians loved by all, or arrogant Englishmen who get up everyone's hooter. As riders, Bayliss and Foggy are World Superbike gods, with records that others can only dream of.

So it's not just a case of replacing a quick rider, it's a case of replacing a superhero. You can't replace a superhero with some guy who will probably win the odd race, you need to find somebody who will win championships. The team's number 2 rider is expected to be a young Italian who is quick but erratic. Michel Fabrizio currently fills that position and is almost certain to stay next year.

Let's look at the riders who have been linked with the number 1 Ducati ride for next year:

Shane "Shakey" Byrne
Currently winning the British Superbike series at a canter on a Ducati 1098, Shakey is experienced, with some MotoGP races under his belt on the atrocious Aprilia and Roberts-KTM machines. In the last couple of years in BSB on 4-cylinder Japanese bikes, he spent half his time crawling off the track with concussion (though the time that the front brake calliper fell off his Rizla Suzuki and he had to jump off the bike at 170mph wasn't his fault!) He just seems to click with Ducatis, having won the BSB title and a couple of races as a WSBK wildcard back in the day. He is head and shoulders above anyone else in BSB this year and looks like he was born to ride the 1098. On the downside, he doesn't know the WSBK tracks. In with a decent chance, and would be my choice to replace Bayliss.

Max Biaggi
This season, The Roman Emperor is riding a Ducati in WSBK for the 2nd-string Sterilgarda team, and he's not exactly setting the heather alight either. Ludicrously parted with Suzuki over wage issues despite almost winning the title last year. On the plus side, he's extremely quick when he feels like it and is a 4-time 250cc World Champion. On the downside, he keeps falling out with teams. And Ducati only ever win the WSBK title with British and Australian riders (Foggy, Bayliss, Hodgson, Toseland, Bayliss again) so an Italian won't be much use. Still, in with a good chance because it's an Italian team and he's Max Biaggi.

Chris Vermeulen
Having a hit and miss season with Suzuki in MotoGP, but seems to have staked his claim for another year at Suzuki (though there are rumours that he will have to take a pay cut). World Superbike, even the prestigious factory Ducati ride, would be a step down for Vermeulen, so he will almost certainly try to stay in MotoGP. As a former Ten Kate rider in WSBK and WSS, he knows most of the tracks. Would be an excellent choice if his MotoGP dreams all fall through, but it looks pretty unlikely.

Michel Fabrizio
There is a possibility that Fabrizio might be promoted to team leader alongside up and coming Italian Niccolo Canepa. So then there would be two erratic young Italians failing to win the WSBK title for Xerox Ducati. It is also said that Ducati want to get Canepa on the career-killing Alice Ducati MotoGP bike to groom him for the future. Fabrizio as number one Ducati in WSBK is unlikely, but with team politics being what they are, who knows?

Ben Spies
Getting pretty silly now. The Texan is the latest big name rider to be linked with Ducati, however his pay demands are truly ludicrous. He earns more than half the MotoGP paddock, and possibly more than anyone in WSBK. This is because he has won the truly worthless AMA Superbike title, where the wages are obscene and the racing is utterly non-existent. He doesn't want to take a pay cut just to race in some foreign race series, even though AMA Superbike is currently in the process of disappearing up its own crevice and re-emerging as 600cc SuperStock with bells on, which may kill off all the factory teams. Spies would be a fascinating choice for the ex-Bayliss ride, but there isn't a hope in hell of it happening unless he re-thinks his love of filthy lucre. Maybe he will show up in WSBK at some point, when AMA SBK is in tatters and all of the garage doors in MotoGP are firmly shut...

BSB: Rain Raises Pulses at Mallory

This year's BSB Ducati-fest continued at Mallory Park with a pair of those bloody 1098's taking the victories. Fortunately, only one of them was Shakey Byrne, although he preserved his record of finishing no lower than 2nd. The other was Michael Rutter, who took a brilliant win in dodgy conditions for race two.

Shane "Shakey" Byrne is completely dominating the British Superbike championship this year. He's on the best bike, he's a noted Ducati specialist and he's having all the luck that seemed to have deserted him in previous years. Byrne hates the Mallory Park track, which is a Mickey Mouse twisty little thing with a lot of 1st gear work that is better suited to a Mini-Moto than a superbike. Doesn't stop him going quick there, though.

In race one, Shakey was well down the pecking order, but gradually hauled everybody in. He made a bit of an ambitious move at the hairpin, getting squished by Laverty on the Relentless Suzuki and ending up completely stationary leant against the wall on the inside of the corner. When he took the lead, the rest of the guys were held up by some atrocious riding from a dim-witted backmarker who was having the day from hell. This gave Shakey the couple of seconds gap that he needed to seal the win.

The second race was in very dodgy conditions. The track was wet but drying. Some riders went out on wets, others intermediates, others used a wet front and intermediate rear. A couple of real loonies went out on slicks, despite the fact that the dry line was less than a foot wide and to stray off it would mean a trip to the perilously close barriers.

One of said loonies was Michael "Blade" Rutter on the NW200 Ducati. He worked his way into the lead and built up a decent gap to the pack behind, which was staggering when you consider that the track wasn't really dry enough for slicks yet, and the guys who were most comfortable were on wets. However, it was an excellent choice as the track dried and the rain tyres fell to bits. Behind him, Shakey Byrne grabbed 2nd on the Airwaves Ducati.

People often talk about a rider's home race. Sometimes that uses a very broad definition of home, meaning anywhere in the same country. However, in Rutter's case this was almost literally a home race, as he lives in the village a hundred yards from the Mallory circuit and could easily have nipped to his house for a cuppa. A great display from "Blade", showing that he's still got it.

BSB Brands: Cal and Shakey Share Champagne

The British Superbike circus finally rolled into Brands Hatch for the rescheduled "Round One", aka Round Three of the championship, and the spoils were shared by Coventry's Cal Crutchlow and Shakey Byrne.

The grid lineup was slightly odd, since the qualifying times from 5 weeks ago still stood. However, Shane "Shakey" Byrne was on pole, which is hardly a surprise. Among the missing were Karl Harris, who has been beaten black and blue so far this season and apparently had to be ordered not to show up by his team, and Dean Ellison, who had a terrible crash through no fault of his own last time out at Oulton.

Race 1 started with a fight between the young guns of Cal Crutchlow and Tom Sykes. Both had a terrible time in the second race at Oulton. Cal ended up with a dislocated ankle and painful ligament damage, while Sykesy ended up on his backside after being torpedoed by the other HM plant bike. However, these two youngsters are setting the championship alight this year. Crutchlow somehow shrugged off the fact that his ankle is held on with sticky tape, and led for much of the race. Sykes kept him honest, but Shakey Byrne inevitably progressed onwards and upwards through the lap charts. The veteran rider picked off Sykes, and when Cal ran wide, both Shakey and Sykesy nipped through the gap. The leading trio held their positions to the flag, with Byrne winning from Sykes and Crutchlow.

Behind them, Leon Haslam managed to take 4th place after an atrocious start. The Derbyshire lad was lapping at the same pace as the leaders, but the bad start had left him around 3.5 to 4 seconds back and unable to close the gap. 5th was secured by lanky Leon Camier, who is now 6'4" again (Jack Burnicle sways between 6'3" and 6'4" when describing Camier, I don't know if the commentator actually measures the rider before each race or what...) Chris Burns wrestled the MV Agusta to victory in the Cup class, though he was concerned by the fuel warning light coming on before the end of the race.

Race 2 was absolute bedlam. Leon Bedlam, no that's Leon Haslam, managed to take the lead early on, this time having the good start that he needed to go with his good pace. Unfortunately, the chaos that has followed Haslam the Younger around this year was again in attendance. The number 91 HM Plant Honda ran off the track while he was easily leading, and ended up losing a bucketload of time.

Cal Crutchlow was in the front again, still ignoring his knackered ankle, even though he needed it to work the rear brake. Shakey Byrne managed to pass Tom Sykes for 2nd place, but at that exact moment the pace car was deployed as privateer Malcolm Ashley had suffered a monumental crash. Just to be safe, the Airwaves Ducati team signalled Shakey to drop back to 3rd and avoid any possible penalty for passing under pace car conditions. It was a bitter blow for Ashley. Not only did he crash in race 1, but a marshal laughed at him for having a funny crash and was lucky not to be wearing a Kawasaki up his crevice. His race 2 crash was massive, and he had to be stretchered off in an ambulance, but is expected to make a full and swift recovery. He might have to buy his own replacement parts, but at least he's talented enough to fit them himself.

When racing started again, the race officials had tacked on another 3 laps to make sure there was a 5 lap dash for the cash. Unfortunately it was cut short when Tom Sykes had his engine explode in spectacular fashion, the Yorkshireman surfing his bike into the gravel trap before jumping up and yelling at the marshals to get the oil flags out. For some reason, the officials thought that it was dangerous to have a 180mph braking zone drenched in lubricant, so they quickly red-flagged the race.

Crutchlow had somehow managed to stay at the front long enough to pick up a victory. Shakey Byrne was gutted to have to accept 2nd place instead of a double, having clearly had the pace to challenge the ailing rider in front. The magnificently laid back Leon Camier took 3rd place, his helmet, leathers and bike completely covered in oil from Sykesy's Suzuki. While most people would be waking up screaming for weeks after that kind of experience, Camier was as laconic as ever. The youngster is progressing nicely, even if he thinks he should be winning as much as his far more experienced team-mate. This time, John Laverty won the Cup class on his NorthWest 200 Ducati.

Shakey Byrne still has a handsome lead in the championship, but Crutchlow and Sykes are now hitting form rather than hitting the deck. They'll do well to get anywhere near Shakey in the title race, but they should be taking a few victories between them as the year rolls on. This season has been outstanding, and it just keeps getting better.

BSB Oulton Park: Shakey Shines Again

Shakey Byrne did the double at an Oulton Park meeting that had more red flags than a "voluntary" government-organized parade in Beijing.

Race 1 was red-flagged after just 1 corner of racing. On the sighting lap, the riders discovered that it was tipping down rain around the back of the track. When they got back to the grid, they all sat looking each other. Just to spice things up, some clown extinguished the red lights and started the race. They all shrugged their shoulders and took off, several of them actually getting round turn 1. Tom Sykes was among those who ended up on his backside, and not for the last time...

When the race was re-started, everybody was on wet tyres. Shakey Byrne won after working his way through the pack and inheriting the lead when polesitter Cal Crutchlow tried too hard and ran his HM Plant Honda off the track. Tom Sykes impressed on the Rizla Suzuki, but his challenge evaporated when he went straight on at a chicane. Leon Haslam on the other HM Plant machine got faster and faster as the track dried, sticking his nose briefly ahead of Byrne's Ducati only to run wide. The wily old fox managed to frustrate young Haslam's ambitions by being quick where it mattered and slow where it didn't, and Shakey took his 2nd win of the season.

Unluckiest man in the paddock Karl Harris tried a little bit too hard and fell off in the tricky drying conditions, his bike carrying on valiantly without him for a few seconds just in case there were any more flying Rizla Suzukis in the vicinity. Harris was battered but OK, and luckily is the only person tough enough to brave the wrath of his team boss Rob Mac without fleeing the country.

Race 2 was where things got really interesting, as the weather had dried out and some real racing could take place. Shakey Byrne didn't have a great start, but things went from bad to worse when he nearly crashed and ended up having to take a short cut around a chicane. When he finally found a gear low enough to take off again, he was in 13th place, but happy not to have fallen off.

Tom Sykes continued to show why he's one of the highest rated youngsters in the paddock by leading the race in fine style. Unfortunately, he was still leading when he was assaulted from nowhere by HM Plant Honda's Leon Hazard. Sorry, that's Leon Bedlam. Young Bedlam went for a gap that wasn't there, and the hapless Sykes tipped the bike in only to find a Honda Fireblade slamming into him like a freight train. He was distraught as the bike flipped over and landed in a steaming heap in the grass, his first victory having been ripped out of his hands. Bedlam ran off the track and carried on, but was excluded from the race by the stewards, who have had just about enough of this pair colliding.

At least Karl Harris wasn't nearby to get whacked by the flying Suzuki this time, although he managed to fall off a few laps later just to bring a few more tears to Rob Mac's eyes. Harris and the Yamaha are both hugely impressive this year in terms of pace, but whenever they don't get crashed into, they do it themselves. A little patience and "Bomber" will start racking up some serious points to add to his current total of zero.

The red flags appeared once again, waving all over the place like a 1980's Labour Party conference, after Cal Crutchlow crashed all on his own again, this time sustaining a dislocated ankle. (Yowwww!!!) So far this year, Crutchlow is damned quick, sometimes a bit too quick. He certainly looks like he has team-mate Leon Bedlam under control, so long as he can stay on the bike. In addition to Crutchlow's crash, two of the privateers had also visited the scenery on the same lap. With marshals all over the place dragging bikes to safety and medics attending Crutchlow on the outside of a terrifyingly fast corner, the red flags were fully justified. Hopefully the quacks will be able to pop Cal's ankle back together and get him out for the next race.

Shakey Byrne had a brilliant race, picking off everybody one by one and showing he can win from the front, or from close to the back. The Ducati is perfectly suited to Oulton, and Shakey is perfectly suited to the Ducati, keeping it nice and smooth and using the thunderous torque of the big V-twin.

James Ellison finished 2nd on his Honda, to the joy of his many fans and the amazement of anyone who ever saw him race in MotoGP. Although a lot of people fell off in front of him, Ellison was actually very close to the pace of the leaders, so it wasn't a total fluke by any means.

Leon "Giraffe" Camier finished 3rd to complete his brace of podiums. Very impressive, considering that he hurt himself horribly last year, and hurt himself a bit more in pre-season testing. He's doing well to stay anywhere near the pace of a Ducati-meister like Shakey.

This season is turning out to be really interesting. Not the championship battle, Shakey Byrne will win that at a canter. It's the quality of racing. Sykes and Crutchlow have been brilliant, and the chaos that's following Leon Bedlam this year has just added spice to the mix. Next time out it's "Round One" from Brands, and there are scores to settle...

BSB Thruxton: Shakey Start To New Season

The British Superbike Championship finally kicked off at Thruxton with a victory for Shane "Shakey" Byrne on his Ducati 1098, and one for Cal Crutchlow on his Honda Fireblade.

It had been a longer wait than expected for the new season to start, unless you count Frosty the Snowman's double at Brands a fortnight ago. The racing lived up to expectations with a mix of the usual suspects and a few surprises battling at the front. Nobody was especially surprised by Shakey's pace in qualifying and the race on the new 1200cc Ducati. It went pretty well for a bike that would supposedly be so dangerous to use with stock pistons that the GSE team had announced their retirement from the series. Surprise, surprise, Ducati weren't at a disadvantage in a Superbike race.

The Thruxton circuit runs round the perimeter of an old WW2 airfield, consisting of a right - left - right complex, a flat out blast around the plains and a slowish chicane at the end of the lap. These modern Superbikes take the back of the circuit at terrifyingly high speed, squirming around and spinning their tyres spectacularly on the fast turns such as the 140mph Church corner before braking down from 200mph to take the silly chicane onto the start/finish straight. Exactly the kind of track where a mooing V-twin should lose out to screaming inline 4 machines...

Nobody was especially shocked to see Shakey Byrne win race 1 on his Airwaves Ducati after fighting past the HM Plant Honda youngsters. Crutchlow took 2nd place in front of old dog Michael Rutter, the Alex Barros of BSB, on the Northwest 200 Ducati. Young Haslam had to settle for 4th in front of Shakey's team-mate Leon Camier. The basketball player sized Camier fought through the field to grab 5th despite being injured from a pre-season testing crash.

Karl Harris had made a brilliant start and was running 3rd when his Yamaha conked out, unable to hack the constant high revs required at Thruxton. A similar fate befell youngster Adam Jenkinson, who had incredibly been hanging onto the coat tails of the big names on his Superbike debut when his Honda went bang. Tom Sykes was 6th, riding injured after a massive highside in qualifying had hurt his thumb, which he uses for the Doohan-style rear brake that seems to be back in fashion again. James Ellison was 7th.

Race two had to be re-run after a jaw-dropping crash saw the first attempt red-flagged. Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam were battling in the complex when Sykes clipped Haslam's back wheel and was thrown off his bike. The Rizla Suzuki machine wasn't satisfied with that small bit of destruction, and cartwheeled along until it found Karl Harris and slapped him up side the head, knocking the big bruiser off his Yamaha altogether. It was a terrifying crash, with Harris disappearing into the air fence close to his bike. The red flag was shown almost immediately.

Of course, everybody says Karl Harris is tough, but this crash showed that he's tougher than tough. Unbelievably, he managed to stand up and walk to the ambulance. Harris going head first into an air fence at 60mph is like a charging rhino going head first through a sheet of plywood.

Race two was re-run over a shorter distance, and it was Tom Sykes who took the lead, probably still howling with adrenaline. However, it was his old sparring partner Cal Crutchlow who took the victory, his first in BSB. Professional bridesmaid Leon Haslam disappeared into the pits with an electrical problem, for the millionth time having a weekend ruined by poor setup and bad luck. Shakey Byrne and Michael Rutter had been held up behind Sykes's tyre-smoking Suzuki, allowing Crutchlow to escape. The Ducati codgers battled amongst themselves, with Shakey ending up 2nd and Rutter taking another 3rd in an amazing return to form. The veteran must be a serious dark horse for the championship.

Lanky Leon Camier managed to grab 4th this time out, with Michael Laverty sneaking his Suzuki into 5th and Stuart Easton wrestling his Kawasaki to 6th in front of James Ellison, who seems to like the number 7 rather a lot.

It was a great start to the year, with some great racing. The teams and riders who have moved on to pastures new were soon forgotten, with their places taken by quick youngsters and oldies who still have what it takes. Shakey Byrne looks like the favourite for the title. It would be a lot to ask for Crutchlow to take the title in his 2nd year of Superbike, and with a new team at that, but he'll be there to pounce on any mistake from or injury to Shakey. I'd keep an eye on old stager Michael Rutter, whose pace in the wet will come in handy, and Leon Camier should come on strong later in the year. The Ducati was brilliant on the power-hungry Thruxton track, and it will be interesting to see how it goes on the more twisty and torque-friendly tracks on the rest of the calendar.