WSBK » Byrne fastest at Portimao test

Sure, it''s a bit early to read too much in to the testing times but it seems clear that the contigent of British racers are all hungry for success and not afraid of anyone: not Biaggi, Corser, Xaus, or Neukirchner, et al.

They should be all over the rostrum in 2009. Ergo, we can expect a memorable season on the World stage.

Better get practising the National Anthem!

I have alsways been a fan of Shakey and i am glad he is in WSBK now.

I think we will see some intresting battles in 2009, shakey definitly deserves a factory seat

I'm so glad shakey has got a Ducati ride in WSBK, on a Ducati i think he can really show his talent and get some good strong podium finishes in 2009.

I think if he was going over there on a Japanese bike he would not display he skills aswell.

byrne and ducati go hand in hand, sound familiar.....BAYLISS rings a bell. he'll be being watched closely by Xerox!!!

Confident that byrne can win plenty in a strong field in 09 which will show how good he is.

You brits sure make me laugh. Shakey, haslam, sykes and the rest of the overrated british "super talents". Its better to be a big fish in a small pond, lets see how they do when released in a big pond. Haga, biaggi, corser, checa and naukirchner are going to eat them alive.
2009 Bring it on!! Muhahaha.

Nice lap times from Shakey and Spies, but one have to remember that that track is so new, every time they go on the track the grip level rises due to more rubber on the new tarmac, one can assume the grip level towards the end of this test was better than at Sunday during the races.

Hi all! Does anybody know Schumacher's laptime?

Tarzaan

One of those delusional Brits here.

Hey it's just the Winter WSBK championship for which there is no: trophy, accolades or recognition, and that applies to everyone.

Oh and by the way ''ponds'', didn't Haslam and Byrne both do MotoGP? OK so they sank a bit, but they've experienced the ''pond''.

for a bunch of small fish they have done fairly well so far this year in the various wild cards......

@Maaa H

Dude, you should not judge people like that. I am a Shakey ever ever since i have seen him ride on the fastbikes vids, and i am not even Brithish. And guess what, I am a Bayliss and Stoner fan, and i am not Australia either.

Let's look at Shakey's performance at Portimao in relation to Haslam.. Haslam fought off most of the 'big fish' in the 'big pond' to bag a podium finish on Sunday, and therefore knows the Portimao circuit far better than Byrne did before testing. Yet Shakey, on an RS08 (slightly inferior to his BSB F08) manages to top the timesheets after just two days of testing, and pull best part of 1 second per lap on Haslam. And look at what he did to Haslam in Race 2 at Brands Indy a few weeks ago... Reeled him in over the course of 10 laps no problem whatsoever. If Byrne had been in that Portimao race on the same Sterilgarda Ducati, he'd have bagged a definite second place, maybe pushing Bayliss too..