Shane Byrne Biography

Full Name: Shane Byrne
Nickname: 'Shakey'
Date of Birth: 10th December 1976
Place of Birth: Lambeth, London
First Race: 1996
British Superbike Debut: 1999
Grand Prix Debut: 2004

Shane Brown was born on the 10th December 1976 in London, although he now lives in Zurich, Switzerland. He was the British Superbike Champion in 2003 riding for Monstermob Ducati.

Shane began his career in 1988 winning one event out of four in his trails riding debut year. In 1993 he had four wins in five months on Schoolboy motorcross. It wasn't until 1996 when Shane had his road racing debut with a Kawasaki. He won his race first time out but ended the season with a broken wrist.

By 1997, Shane was the Supersport 600 Champion and won his first national race on a Supersport Honda at Cadwell Park. He competed in the British Supersport Championship in 1998 finishing in 6th place on a Yamaha Thundercat, winning at Snetterton in the same season.

Shane started the 1999 season on a Honda in the Supersport class but moved up to riding a Kawasaki in the British Superbike Championship for the first time. He scored several point-scoring finishes including two 7th places and two 8th places. At Donington Park for the final round, Shane finished in 5th and 6th places and ended the season with 67 points, 15th place overall.

Injury in 2000 meant that Shane missed several mid season races, although he did finish in 14th place with ten top ten results scoring 80 points.

Three 5th and 4th places at both Oulton Park and Brands Hatch were some of the highlights from Shane's 2001 season. In fact he had twenty finishes in the top eight. He rode his GSX-R750 to 22 class wins out of 26 races. Scoring 204 points put him in 8th place overall, and won him the Superbike Cup.

Riding his first year for Team Renegade Ducati on a full works Superbike in 2002, Shane became a regular front-runner on the 998R TestaStretta. His first win was at Donington in round three. This season he also won at Knockhill and Thruxton, and was in the top five at no less than sixteen races. Shane also had the three fastest laps, making his final points tally 294 1/2 points and giving him 4th place overall. He also raced a Ducati in the British World Superbike rounds with results of 5th place, 9th place and two 10th places.

2003 saw Shane's best year. He was riding for MonsterMob Ducati, taking over the reigning titleholder, Steve Hislop's, machine. He started the season with nine wins in eleven races, and by the sixteenth race he had achieved six 2nd places. Shane was now 135 points in front of Suzuki's John Reynolds. When he won at Cadwell Park his total was sufficient to take the title. He also recorded three pole positions and seven fastest laps on his way to the BSB title.

During 2003 he also raced for Ducati in the Brands World Superbike round as a wildcard and won both races, placing him in 15th place after nine rounds.

Joining fellow Brit Jeremy McWilliams in 2004 in MotoGP with Aprilia, he missed several races again through injury and made headlines accused of stealing a fan's girlfriend. Most of 2005 Shane raced for Kenny Roberts' team on a MotoGP bike, but unfortunately the team was forced to pull out due to the internal dispute between the chassis and engine manufacturers. He finished off 2005 by racing in Malaysia and Qatar for Camel Honda but his results did not earn him a ride in 2006.

Returning to the British Superbike Championships in 2006 saw Shane now riding for Rizla Suzuki. Although suffering from a severe stomach bug he managed a podium place in the 7th race. After a brake failure causing a crash at 187mph he missed races 11 and 12, although he wasn't seriously hurt. The team's bikes were stolen and dumped in a barn next to horse manure a week before Knockhill. He qualified in 2nd place and followed this with a 2nd place finish in race one, with the team's first win of the season in race 2. In the season's final round, Shane was in 3rd place when he highsided and was knocked unconscious at Paddock Hill bend at Brands Hatch. Again, the injuries were not serious but prevented him racing in the final race which meant he ended up dropping to 6th place overall in the championship.

Byrne was not retained by Suzuki for 2007 and instead was signed by Paul Bird for the Stobart Honda team in British Superbikes. Some strong results for the satellite team, including a win at Mallory Park, ensured that Byrne remained at the sharp end of the Championship table. Unfortunately he was not able to match the pace of the two factory Hondas and Ducatis and it was those that finished in front of him.

Caught up in the merry-go-round at the end of the season which saw most riders switching teams, Byrne was signed by Airwaves Ducati. The team had lost Lavilla to World Superbikes (and coincidentally, Paul Bird's team) and Haslam to HM Plant Honda. Byrne was happy to sign on, with Leon Camier, to race the new Ducati 1098R for 2008.

The move proved a good one on Byrne's part as his proved his detractors wrong and romped away with the title. Leon Haslam finished as his closest rival on 357 points but he was a long way adrift of the 474 points which Byrne amassed aboard the Ducati 1098R. The larger capacity bike was subjected to much scrutiny and even had a 10kg weight penalty imposed on it mid season (briefly prompting Airwaves Ducati’s threat to withdraw on safety grounds).

When left to compete on the track Byrne never looked likely to be caught. He won 9 out of the opening 14 races and it was only a bad crash at Knockhill which gave him his first non-podium finish. By that time his dominance was such that the rest of the field was fighting for second place. He went on to claim his second BSB title, finishing the season with a double win at Brands Hatch.

Having never disguised his wish for a World Superbike ride, he was signed by the Sterilgarda Ducati team to partner Alex Polita for 2009.

Career Highlights
2008: 1st - British Superbike Championship
2007: 5th - British Superbike Championship
2006: 6th - British Superbike Championship
2005: 24th - MotoGP World Championship
2004: 20th - MotoGP World Championship
2003: 1st - British Superbike Championship
2002: 4th - British Supersport Championship
2001: 1st - British Superbike Cup
2000: 14th - British Superbike Championship
1999: 15th - British Superbike Championship
1998: 6th - British Supersport Championship
1997: Club Supersport Champion