Following a successful opening round of the 2016 MCE British Superbike Championship atSilverstone earlier this month, the Be Wiser Ducati Racing Team of Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne and Glenn Irwin heads for round two at Oulton Park this May bank holiday weekend looking to build on a great start to the season.

Aboard the fully factory-supported Be Wiser Ducati Panigale R, 39-year-old Byrne scored a double podium finish three weeks ago to grab the early lead in the title race in his bid for an unprecedented fifth crown. The Sittingbourne-based Londoner, who celebrates his landmark 300th BSB start in race one on Monday, has a great record at the Cheshire track with ten career victories, including a double at the last meeting there in September.

Meanwhile, rookie team-mate Glenn Irwin will be looking to add to the solid points finishes which he scored on his debut ride in MCE BSB on the Be Wiser Ducati Panigale at Silverstone. The 26-year-old from Carrickfergus in County Antrim claimed a 13th and 14th place finish despite difficult conditions in the opening round and is realistically hoping to challenge a bit further up the order this weekend.

Both riders didn’t take part in the official test at Oulton Park last week, preferring instead to exclusively test at Knockhill whereby a full day of data and information was gathered by Paul Bird’s Cumbrian-based PBM team in readiness for this weekend.

Shane Byrne: 

“With the Be Wiser Ducati Team being unable to attend the recent Oulton Park official test, Paul booked us a private test up at Knockhill and it was probably one of the nicest days I've ever seen in Scotland! The test was great and enabled us to continue working on the Panigale, concentrating hard on throttle connection and mapping. There was only us there meaning we weren’t confined to sessions with other riders and we never drove ourselves mad to set the bike specifically for Knockhill. But even so, our lap times were good and I’m really looking forward to Oulton Park and with my 300th start in BSB this weekend. I hope to make it a memorable weekend and continue our strong start to the season.”

Glenn Irwin: 

“I achieved my goal of bringing the bike home safely in the points in both races at Silverstone and that’s the plan again this weekend. That said, I’m feeling a lot more confident and we genuinely found something at Knockhill which I’m hoping will allow me to be more competitive and run with the leaders from now on. Shakey also found something extra at Knockhill and he has given me a few ideas also so I’ll put them into action to help continue our progress. I really like Oulton Park and I’m hoping we can challenge for a good result and get a load more points.”



Images courtesy of Jon Jessop Photography (Shakey #67, Irwin #2)