End of an era for Shakey & PBM
The arrival of Redding and Brookes at PBM marks the end of an era as the Cumbrian set-up parts company with six-time BSB champion Shane Byrne. Byrne won 65 races and five British titles with PBM, riding for them in 2003, 2007 and from 2012 all the way through to his injury in 2018. While even Byrne doesn’t know whether he’ll be able to race after the injuries he sustained earlier this year, should he be fit to return it won’t be with the Be Wiser Ducati team.
“It’s difficult for me as I’m out injured,” Byrne told MCN. “I can’t expect PBM to keep a seat open not knowing whether I’d be back or not, but it would have been nice to have been told rather than learn through gossip. “I was looking forward to riding and developing the V4, but it’s one of those things – I’m injured so I wasn’t on Paul’s radar. I’ve turned down other offers as I don’t know if I’ll be back at this stage. “That said I wish them all the best and Scott and Josh is a sensible lineup. Scott has had a tough couple of years and needs to re-invent himself and maybe BSB is the place to do that. It is stepping into a lion’s den a bit; nobody will give him an inch because he’s Scott Redding and they’ll all want to beat him because he’s a good rider. “Josh has a lot of experience, he’s a great racer and a good guy to race. He’s a decent gauge for Scott to judge his performance, but young Tarran has been showing Josh the way lately!”