Other contenders for BSB's Lorenzo are Michael Rutter, the 35-year-old twice runner-up in the series who could make a big comeback on the NW200 Ducati 1098, and Leon Camier, who would have to bounce back from a catalogue of recent injury in order to win on the Airwaves Ducati.
The pre-season formbook says that Byrne should win the title from Haslam, but racing is unpredictable and only a month ago we were all saying that
Casey Stoner and the Marlboro Ducati were likely to have an easy run to a second
MotoGP title this year...
Sunday AM - This is Thruxton, so it's life in a shoebox for BSB crew chiefs
There are four Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000s, eight crew members and two riders jammed into a pit-box measuring around 9 x 5 metres. Space is so tight that they put up an awning behind the box to house fuel cans, a tyre rack, bike stands, a kid's bicycle, a discarded race jacket - anything that won't fit inside.
This is the British Superbike Championship at Thruxton, one of those tracks that makes you feel that you've stepped back into the 1950s. And to make life even tougher for crew chief Pete Jennings, he and his guys worked until 11.30 last night after rider Tom Sykes dropped the Suzuki at 110mph on the exit from Nobles corner.
"Front wheel and spindle, handlebars, exhaust pipe, all the bodywork," says Jennings, totting up the list of damage. "The crash bobbins saved the frame, but we changed the engine just in case the crankcases were damaged. The swinging arm took a bit of a knock, but we'll see how it goes in the warm-up."
Even if the engine is OK, there could be a £5,000-£10,000 bill for an average crash in BSB racing. "The bodywork is £2,000, the front wheel £1,000, exhaust pipe £600," Jennings muses.
If the conditions are claustrophobic in the pit-boxes, setting up a bike for the Thruxton circuit is just as testing. The 2.356-mile track is the fastest of the 11 venues on the calendar - Gregorio Lavilla's lap record, set on an Airwaves Ducati in 2006, stands at 113.25mph – yet the bikes are rarely upright.
