James returns to MotoGP, Shakey & Easton to Kawasaki BSB
In the first of a couple of surprise moves this week, James Ellison has secured a ride back in MotoGP, albeit on a CRT (Claiming Rule Team) bike. He will team up with fellow Cumbrian Paul Bird, who declared recently his intention to enter a British-based team for 2012 and will be riding an Aprilia RSV4-engined machine. The chassis has yet to be announced. Bird has also maintained his links with Kawasaki by entering a Kawasaki-based British Superbike team next year (more below).
In James already has experience in MotoGP. He first joined the grid riding for Peter Clifford's WCM team, then for the Yamaha satellite Tech 3 team. He has the dubious honour of being the first rider to change bikes under the then new flag-toflag rules, whioch allowed riders to swap bikes mid-race if the weather changed after a race was declared dry.
Bird said, "We want to be as much of an all-British team as we can. James has a lot of experience in developing and setting up bikes and he has been in the MotoGP paddock before in a similar situation, so he is ideally placed to do a great job for us. There are still a lot of details to get sorted out but everything is looking very rosy. We're highly optimistic about being able to run at the top of our game and, as soon as James has his crew around him, we can plan the test schedule."
The second surprise, for some at least, is the news that former BSB Champion Shane Byrne has also signed to Paul Bird's Kawasaki team, along with Stuart Easton, where he will mount a full factory title challenge in 2012. The surprise is simply that he went from a works Honda ride to join Kawasaki, a team that doesn't have a great success record in BSB.
Although the Cumbria-based team has spent the past four seasons in the World Superbike Championship, they had won four British Championship titles, two of which came courtesy of Byrne and Easton.By signing the two riders, Bird has assembled his 'dream team' for a concerted assault on the title./p>
Byrne won his first BSB crown with Bird, when he rode for the Mostermob Ducati squad. He raced again under Bird in 2007, this time on a Honda for the Stobart Racing team. Byrne was one of the six title fighters in the 2011 Showdown with the HM Plant Honda team, securing six victories and a further nine podium finishes but was forced to settle for third place in the overall standings./p>
Byrne: "It's a bit like coming home as this will be the third time I'll have ridden for Paul and it's quite funny as you spend five minutes with the team and it's as if you've never been away! The team always puts out competitive bikes and I reckon the Kawasaki will be a major threat. You know Paul wouldn't be coming back to BSB if he didn't think he could win it so I think we'll have a real good shot at the title."
Easton, who was hadn't ridden in the 2011 BSB series since a huge accident at the Nortwest 200, added: "My injuries are healing well and everything should be sorted in time for me to start testing with the team as planned. It's great to be back with PBM and I appreciate the support they have given me this year whilst I was out. We have enjoyed so much success together in the past, I'm really looking forward to this challenge and if we can replicate that it will be great."