After a great pre-season and pre-race test at Phillip Island things went off the rails for Shane Byrne (Althea Ducati) at the opening round of the year, as two crashes (one in first qualifying and one in warm-up) badly beat up the English rider and naturally held back his raceday performances. He was to finish only 14th and 12th, having been second fastest in testing, and top four after first qualifying.


The upside, three weeks after the opening weekend ‘down under', is that there was no lasting damage to his body, and he is not only raring to go at Portimao, he is determined to make good ground at all the rest of the races in 2010. "The only thing I wanted was for the second race of the year to come along the week after Phillip Island. I just couldn't go fast after my crashes but now I need to get to Portimao, Valencia, Assen - all the other rounds. It is not about being fast at one track. I really like Portimao but I don't just want to go well, there, I want to be on the podium there, at Valencia, at Assen, and all the other places."

Byrne knows that his lack of raceday pace was simply due to being beaten up from his fall, and knows that injury free his weekend could have been different. His team-mate Carlos Checa won race two, after all. "All through testing and early practice we showed we had the speed. But I just feel disappointed for Genesio Bevilacqua, the team owner, because he put a lot of faith in me giving me that ride in 2010. I really wanted to be Carlos at Phillip Island, and be the one giving Genesio the podiums!"