James Ellison vindicated as Shane Byrne finds chatter in Catalunya

Shane Byrne struggled with the same chatter issues that have plagued James Ellison on the Paul Bird Motorsport Aprilia ART machine when he rode during the Catalunya MotoGP test earlier this week.

Byrne was drafted in by Bird to give his impressions and feedback on the ART machine after Cumbrian rider Ellison battled to overcome a severe chatter issue in most races in 2012.

But having got Byrne’s second opinion, it is clear that the chatter is a big issue and the double British Superbike champion told MCN: “Corner entry is the most predominant bit and it kind of holds back how hard you can push into the corner.

“It doesn’t go away initially when you first pick up the throttle so there is too much of the corner that you are not in control of. I was only here to help the team out and back up some of the comments James has had on the bike.”

Ellison said he felt vindicated by Byrne’s comments having come under pressure to perform in the first five races.

He was threatened with the axe for last month’s French Grand Prix at Le Mans but Byrne set a best time of 1.47.8 at the test, which was some way of Ellison’s fastest lap over the Catalunya weekend of 1.44.7.

Ellison clocked a best time of 1.46.0 at the test while he briefly experimented with a longer wheelbase in a short stint he had on the bike and he told MCN: “With Shakey being here it has been mega because he was coming out with the exact same comments that I have all year. I feel a bit vindicated.

“It was good that he was here but in another sense you have to think we had the perfect opportunity to test a load of stuff and we haven’t able to because we put Shakey on it to try and confirm what I have been saying.

“There are positives and negatives but I am glad it was Shakey because he is no slouch and for him to come on board and say exactly the same things is a good thing.

“We experimented with a really long wheelbase but I only did about eight laps and I was 0.8s slower than I was in the race.

“We tried that wheelbase but it meant the gearing was way out but we wanted to see if it gave us any extra stability in the corners looking to see if we need to go down that route at Silverstone.”