BSB: Byrne: 'I still feel like a passenger!'

Shane Byrne struggled to hide his frustrations this afternoon despite taking pole position for tomorrow’s opening MCE British Superbike race.

While he’s been able to lap quick enough to top both of today’s sessions, the Be Wiser Ducati rider has continued to struggle to find feeling with his Panigale R around the tricky Lincolnshire circuit and despite that not being so much of an issue today, he’s concerned it could affect him as he pushes on in tomorrow’s races.

“It’s really hard to say you’re struggling when you’re fastest! I think quite a few riders are struggling here this weekend,” Byrne said.

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“We changed the head angle between Q1 and Q2, that’s something we’d never usually do unless you were at the start of a session or a test day – that’s how much we’re looking for feeling but even that didn’t work.

“My initial laps in Q2 weren’t that fast and we nearly got knocked out as we were making another little change before we put in the lap to get into Q3.

“I feel like a bit of a passenger on an Italian beast that doesn’t speak English! Cadwell Park isn’t the most forgiving of places at the best of time so when you’re sat on top of something that you can’t talk to or make do what you want it’s frustrating.

“We’ll see how the races go. Starting from the front row is the best place to be, I’ll have to try my hardest to get a good start. Our pace is decent enough but I wish we could get a little bit of feeling or confidence from the front of the bike to be able to push to the next level.” 

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