Byrne battles back for seventh win.

OK, Airwaves 1-2.
Ducati advantage? Nope, a wet track negates all that.
Simply, Shakey is head and shoulders above everyone else this year, back to his iold form.

My arse. Its like AMA. The only battle Shakey has is at what point in the race should he make the other bikes look stupid. Cmon race fans how the hell is it fair.

Shakey is a class act, world class.
How many other riders in BSB are world class NONE
and that includes the failed GP/SBK rider Haslem, but at least he gave it a go.
it will be interesting to see were they finish when SBK hits the UK.at tracks they are riding all the
time unlike the SBK riders who ride them once per year.
and that is a sad state of affairs, as far as British riders go.

Spheres! :-)

No argument Byrne's good, so's Camier, so's Rutter..... But *that* good?
If Danum was right Shakey would have walked off with the trophy last year. He didn't.
No argument they're good riders, even excellent riders.
But its time to rechristen it the Bennett's Ducati Cup.

The rules are *****d and the fours have little chance.
Its sad. But its so.

Shakey didn't walk off with the title last year for two reasons, he didn't have a factory bike and there was more competition with Kiyo, Rea and Lavilla. Let's face it, last year Haslam was consistently beaten by his teammate and it's no different this year.

Camier is only 1 point in front of the lead Honda and Rutter has been consistent top 10 for years.

This is the first time since 2003 that Byrne has had a decent factory bike and he's clearly hungrier than anyone else for the Championship.

What's the latest excuse from Honda? The Ducati is better in the wet because it has better traction control! Honda thought they'd walk it this year and have been caught napping.

I do not have a clue how anyone can shout foul as far as shakeys brilliant race went! With a wet track it really is the rider not the engine size etc,you could put hasslam on shakeys bike and he still would not win Jack!Well done the rest brilliant raceing close and exciting.

The wet is a great leveller and after being held back to 13th by Karl Harris falling off Byrne produced a virtuoso performance to reclaim 1st by lapping a second a lap faster than his team mate and the rest of the field - he's the only former BSB champ in the field and the only one who is currently a world class rider.

Of course he didn't win last year - against factory bikes on made to measure Michelins - no chance!

OK OK point taken about in the wet its the rider (mostly) but imagine this: The Tooth Fairy and Santa gang up to give you all your Christmasses at once - You get to ride in BSB this season *and* you can pick any bike.

OK who said they'd choose something other than the Ducati?
..... Yeah right *And* didn't have a thing about dressing in black & orange leather :-)

GSE need to get that Ducati of Shakey Byrne's upgraded to WSB spec and get him into the World paddock very quickly. He should have been there (and stayed there) in '04 - no question. Not sure who else deserves to be there with him in '09 from BSB - maybe nobody. Maybe the youngsters need to fight it out amongst themselves and pick up a couple of BSB titles over the next few years and then move up to WSB, although I'm sure Crutchlow will tell you he's ready for the world stage now of course. Personally I don't think anyone except Shakey is even close to world level. Hopefully we'll see how he stacks up in a few weeks at Brands and again at Donny.

Nitro, u sound like u shud date Shakey.

Funny how none of the teams in WSBK, WSS, BSB, or BSS wanted him at the end of 07 coz they know he doesnt have what he takes ... then he got thrown a lifeline by a GSE team entering BSB late & not having much else to sign except scraps.
So they give him a questionably approved limited super production bike that goes against the spirit of all the rules (especially the new BSB cost ones) & when he unsurprisingly wins, blinkered fans falling for GSE propaganda wax lyrical about how Shakey can walk on water.
Lets face it ... he's been around for ages & never been as good as this year, whereas the 1198 is a new rocket ... so I ask u ... man or machine?

all of you who say shakey should be in the world field are having a laugh he would get eaten alive there is a difference wobbling around local tracks with a bunch of kids to racing with the worlds best!!!!

some of you guys can't have been watching for long. in '03 shakey was on a duke as were many others and he slaughtered em all. then he was a wild card at brands and he did the double at brands and he walked away with it too iwas there and he was a mile ahead of all the rest he was on the monster mobe duke and he beat the wsbk factory duke boys (inc. hodgson) and the GSE duke boys (inc. toseland) aprilla then grabed him for gp's all be it on a nail another kenny roberts nail the following year and no top line bike till this year and guess what he:s perfoming again

Dice,the only reason all the top rides had gone by the time Byrne signed was because Paul Bird had it written into the contracts that him and Sykes could not talk to any other teams untill very late in the year.
As it happended it back fired on Bird because he kept them hanging on about re-signing and GSE couldn't confirm there plans untill late on either because of all the Ducati arguments hence why they lost Haslam and Lavilia.
I do rate Byrne,hes obviously clicked well with the Duke. However I completely agree with you over Ducatis manipulation of the rules. No way should they be allowed the make a £25k one off special when all the other manufacturers have £9k bikes! Very unsporting!

No way should they be allowed the make a £25k one off special when all the other manufacturers have £9k bikes! Very unsporting!
Please can you tell us all were we can buy a Louth Mafia (HRC uk) Honda for £9k.
As for Ducati it is a production bike, even you could buy one, not a one off special, like the HRC uk Honda's.which you would not have a cat in hell's chance of buying.
The closest Jap bike to a production bike is the Kawasaki,which results in it being a
mid field/tale end runner

danum, are you living in the real world or what??

for a start, the honda race bikes are not factory, they are kitted bikes and are the same spec as hydrex, greg lavillia's wsb (bar the engine). they arrived at louth as completely standard road legal 08 blades and still have a lot of the standard parts.

however the dukes were built at ducati corse, picked up from there on the way to the pre season tests this year.

a sign of the spec of the bikes is simple, the honda's have frame numbers, have v5 docs and could in theory ride them to the circuit, however the ducatis have no such frame number (only their ducati corse build numbers) and were and never will be production!!!

Danum, I think you've missed the point of Holologation. Hrc as with Rizla, Hawk, Mss and all the others can all change EXACTLY the same parts according to the rules. However, ducati produce there R model, (as with the SPS before it) with lots of extra tricks bits fitted as standard so they can get around the rules that say they have to use standard parts in particular area's. The Conrods debate is prime example. Every bike has standard rods as does the standard 1098 and 1098s but the R uses titanium. So the Ducati race bike are using titanium in there race bikes. Are you telling me that is fair?
The rules also say they have to sell 100 bikes for it to be eligable.... cont..

I really hope Byrne gets a WSB ride next year. That will take him back down to earth was a huge thump as he gets his ass reamed

The field in BSB isn't that great at the moment, couple that with the advantage he has on that bike and thats where you get him. Im not saying Byrne is a bad rider, hes just not 7 wins from 10 races good, no where near it. Haslam, Sykes or Crutchlow could all do the same on that bike. If he was so world class he would have done something by now, as it is he hasn't come close to winning a world championship.

At least Palmer has plans to sort out the rules for next year apparently. Same rules for everyone.

Cont.. But they have not sold 100! Ducati UK pre registered a load to make it eligable for racing. The bikes are not on the open road, they are sitting in the dealers brand new with ducati uk as the first owner.
Then add to that an extra 100cc for the R model and it just turns the whole system into a complete farce.
Its a shame because it will overshadow the great job Byrne and Bayliss in WSB are doing.
I hope Byrne does go the WSB and I think he'll do well too. He should have done that in 04 rather than go for the cash in moto gp. He's on record as saying that himself.

They need to change the homologation rules as well. Need to sell 10,000 bikes...

Completely agree FooAtari!!! Or a cost price cap of £15k.

Just to add another part to the debate... Yamaha have previosly gone down the 'special' route too with there R1 SP. However it was only a couple of grand extra than the standard model, not 10, and it had they same engine size!!

Ducati have recognised a loophole in the rules and rather than just push a little like they have in the past, they have completly took the pi$$ out of it!!!

Good on Palmer for doing something about it, but it should have been sorted at the start of the year! It'll be a shame not to see any Dukes on the grid though, as im sure they'll spit there dummy's and refuse to race with an S model.