l am somewhat dissapinted to see that Airwaves have given the new bike to Shane Byrne for next season. l have absolutely nothing against the guy and am sure that he is a top bloke but l really can not see that he deserves this ride. His time has come and OK the politics meant that Leon and Greg were already gone but l think that they should have gone with a couple of young guys instead. Shakey did nothing with the Suzuki last year at least not enough of note with one of the top teams in the paddock and really when was the last time that he put a whole season of true note together?

There is the point l suppose that there are not that many others around to take the ride but l also feel that the BSB series is not as great as we Brits like to think it is. The days of Hodgson, Walker, Bayliss, Mackenzie, Hislop et al battling it out on the track together are gone and l am not sure that it will ever have that depth again.
Wiggysan - sorry you are right, it was a Honda last year - he got bombed from Suzuki before that!! My mistake. Living outside the UK, l must be loosing my marbles.

You actually illustrate my point though, the last season he did anything of note was 2003 that you can remember. As l say l have nothing against the guy personally l just do not think it a smart move. l HOPE l am proven wrong and as a multiple Ducati owner they are the team l cheer on, so fingers crossed.

Cheers for answering.

You had a good point dude untill you said he was riding a Suzuki.

Shakey was on Paul Birds Stobart Honda last year.

The 2 Suzuki pilots were Chris ''The Stalker'' and Cal ''Crutch low'' .

Shakey does deserve the ride. Did you not see what he did in 2003 on the Monstor Mob Duke? He wiped the floor with every body.

Good look Shane, good luck Airways.

l think Byrne will be a good fit for Airwaves Ducati, like you say there was not a great deal to choose from with a lot of the top riders leaving BSB (or moving to Honda) and they have paired him up with Leon Camier a young up-coming rider.

Personally i'm looking forward to the new season, there is a lot of good young talent to fight it out in Haslam, Crutchlow, Camier and Sykes and the introduction of Watanabe adds a little bit more excitement to the championship.