Hot on the heels of the recent announcement that loyal long-term sponsors Vent Axia and Kick Energy were to back Paul Bird's works Kawasakis in the 2009 World Superbike Championship, the team has secured another lucrative deal with gaming giants SuperCasino.com.

SuperCasino.com was launched in October 2008 and is the new home of Live Roulette, Live Blackjack and the other games. It is part of the NetPlay plc group of companies and is the latest brainchild of Martin Higginson who was the man behind Bird's long-term association with Monstermob.

After a couple of years away from the sport, the lure and excitement of the PBM team being awarded the official contract to run the works Kawasaki team in WSB meant Higginson saw an ideal opportunity to re-establish his association with the team that won three British Championships in his colours.

Higginson's association with Birdy's team has seen them achieve plenty of milestones over the years. They gave James Toseland his Superbike debut in 2000 on the Demon-backed Vimto Honda and won the British Superbike Championship with both the late Steve Hislop in 2002 and Shane Byrne the following year on the Monstermob Ducatis. Stuart Easton also sampled British Supersport Championship success as well as John McGuinness winning a number of TTs and the Macau GP for the pairing. But perhaps the crowning moment was when Shakey topped the podium twice as a wild card at Brands Hatch when he beat the best in the World Superbike Championship in 2003.

Now with the impressive new workshop facilities built and with riders Broc Parkes and Makoto Tamada enjoying a successful test at Almeria last week before the official WSB tests in Portugal this weekend, anticipation is high for the Cumbrian-based team.

"Paul's team will be a major player in this year's World Superbike Championship so the time was right for us to link up again. We wanted a professional and successful platform to continue the fantastic growth of our SuperCasino.com brand and I know Birdy's the man to do that for us in WSB. I'm delighted to be part of this and along with the other sponsors, I can't wait to go racing" said Higginson.

Bird is also very enthusiastic about the deal. "Martin and I have been friends for years and when he suggested coming on board, I leapt at the chance to work with him again. We haven't even discussed a budget yet but I'm sure that won't be a problem and we hope for this to be another long-term association as when he's with us, he brings us a lot of luck!"

The first round of the series takes place at Phillip Island in Australia on March 1st.