SHAKEY BYRNE: TO BE CONTINUED…
Seemingly like the Peter Pan of BSB, Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne was into his 40s and had just clinched his sixth British crown. He’d remained for a sixth year with the ultra-successful PBM team for whom he was still winning races, and looked set to continue his domination on the Be Wiser Ducati Panigale unabated.
Then came a test day at Snetterton in May 2018 where everything changed. On his out lap trailed by main rival Leon Haslam, he was tipping into the left-hander of Palmer when he ran off the edge of the track and the chirpy Londoner slammed into the trackside barriers. Haslam magnanimously stopped before summonsing help.
Most times, he – and any other rider – would have picked themselves up and thought about how to explain it to the team, only this time, Shakey stayed down. And didn’t move. The super-efficient BSB medics were soon on hand to administer assistance, but it soon became apparent that this was no ordinary crash as he was whisked off to Norwich and Norfolk University Hospital.
Emergency spinal surgery was followed by five days in the Critical Care Unit before being transferred to Intensive Care, but
