Shane Byrne Joins Carlos Checa at Althea Ducati

Shane Byrne finally managed to secure his staying in the World Superbike Championship for the 2010 season, as the double British Superbike Champion inked a one-year deal with Althea Ducati. The British rider will therefore switch teams in the series, as he previously debuted in the WSBK in 2009 for Sterilgarda.

In his very first season in the series, Byrne took his customer Ducati to 4 podium finishes – 2 runner-up spots in the US and Brno and two 3rd places at the Nurburgring – and finished the year as the 8th best rider in the series. He was the second-best placed privateer in the 2009 WSBK standings, after Stiggy Honda's Leon Haslam.

The British rider will therefore join Spanish veteran Carlos Checa in the Althea Ducati lineup, as the former MotoGP rider terminated his deal with Honda's works team Hannspree Ten Kate after the 2009 season. In addition, the team will also switch bike suppliers from Honda to Ducati for the 2010 campaign.

“I'm extremely happy to say that I will join the Althea Ducati racing team for the 2010 WSB championship. Genesio Bevilacqua has been fantastic and from my talks with him so far I already understand he is a very serious, enthusiastic and ambitious person,” said Byrne after the move was announced.

“I'm really enthusiastic to have signed Shane Byrne for our 2010 team. He's proved to be a very skilful and successful rider in world Superbike and I'm are sure he will be a great combination with Carlos Checa,” added team manager Genesio Bevilacqua, whose best placed rider last year was Matthieu Lagrive, in 19th place overall.