Eight years after finishing his BSB testing career at Snetterton, Shane Byrne was able to return to riding for the first time.
Byrne suffered serious neck injuries in a crash at Snetterton during BSB testing in 2018 when he was the defending champion. After retirement he began working in television, working with TNT Sports on WorldSBK and BSB coverage, as well as working with fellow Kent rider Bradley Ray.
The five-time BSB champion, however, was unable to return to the bike after the accident, but eight years later he was finally able, at the request of Ducati – with whom he won three of his five BSB titles – to take part in their centenary celebrations at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Shane Byrne at the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Photo: Ducati UK.
“I was asked about Ducati’s centenary celebrations at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and I can’t even tell you how good it was to be there again on the Panigale,” Shane Byrne wrote on the Ducati UK blog.
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“But I spoke to Sarah Falzolger from Ducati UK the day before and she said it would be no problem to lend me some bikes to ride.
“I actually didn’t ride for about eight years after the accident. And the first bike they sent me was a Panigale V4 S Corse!
“It’s hard to say how I felt when I took it on after such a long break. To get something as amazingly powerful as the V4 S, it was like, “Oh my God. How much has the game changed?
“It was really, really interesting for me.”
Byrne also had the opportunity to ride a variety of bikes and was even able to hit the road with his daughter as a passenger.
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“What impressed me most was that after the V4 S, Ducati UK loaned me a Hypermotard V2 SP. And the way I drove it compared to the Panigale was completely different.
“For all my thoughts about what the Hypermotard would be like and how I would ride it, I actually found myself completely moving away from it and just cruising around on little country roads and riding it on little singletracks and things like that. And I loved it, I was happy as a sand boy.
“But I took delivery of the Multistrada V4 RS last week. I told my daughter straight away because it’s the school holidays: ‘We’re going for a drive.’
“This was the model I was really looking forward to.
“I think if you had to pick one bike that did everything, it would be almost impossible, but in terms of refinement, in terms of steering, in terms of performance, in terms of being able to go a long way, go a short way, be in traffic, do whatever, I think you’d be very hard pressed to beat this Multistrada. So far it’s very, very good!”
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