At the completion of the third and final day of the premier test for the 2009 World Superbike Series at the dazzling Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal, yet again it was Shane Byrne of the private Sterilgarda Ducati sitting team atop the timing and scoring leader board with a flying lap of 1:43.294. And not only did the mark eclipse that of the world’s best production-based motorcycle riders, Byrne’s lap also broke the track record of Troy Bayliss (1:43.340), Byrne also beat back 2009 WSB Championship hopefuls Ben Spies (Yamaha and Noriyuki Haga (Factory Ducati).

Adding drama to Byrne’s whiz-bang of a lap was the fact his fast lap held up in a frenzied 10 minute race for prize as the final timed session was cut down dramatically do to Vittorio Lannuzzo’s Honda coming unglued while exiting a corner. Once the track was give the ‘thumbs up”, it was a free for all as all who rode upon it’s surface desperately trying to scratch and claw their way up the leader board. And when all was said and done and the smoke had cleared it was, yet again, Byrne atop the scrap heap.

“I think this team works at a very high level and the know and understand these bikes. Last year [In BSB] we jumped on the Ducati and it worked fantastically from the word go,” Byrne told the global motorcycle racing media. “This bike is an ongoing thing from that. The transition for me is very good, the transition to the Sterilgarda team is also very good. Every time I have a problem and I speak to Alberto my engineer, he looks at the data and we try something. We had a few things to work with today and we have boxed-off two or three of them. I think there is more to come tomorrow if we have good conditions. I was happy with today’s lap time and to be honest I didn’t know I had gone that fast, or know the session had finished either! I came round the second turn and into the third, ready to push really hard and there were people doing practice starts. I suddenly thought, “…the session must be finished!” We have a little bit more work to do with the electronics on the bike but I think we can go even better. We only have standard tyres at the moment but for me that is cool. Unless the tyres the other guys are trying prove to be better, then everybody has to race these standard tyres anyway. It would be good to try the new stuff and go fast on it, but if Pirelli decide they don’t want to use the tyres for the races then all that work is for nothing. So I am quite happy to be on the standard rubber.”

Second fastest on Sunday with a lap of 1:43.484 was American rookie Ben Spies and his potent Yamaha YZF R1. Third quickest was Nori Haga, his Ducati 1098R growling around the Portuguese circuit at 1:43.487. Tom Sykes of the Yamaha World Superbike team was fourth fastest, his best lap clocked at 1:43.546. Carlos Checa, a Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider, aced the fifth best time at 1:43.657.

Official Final Times:
1. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1'43.294
2. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1'43.484
3. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1'43.487
4. Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1'43.546
5. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1'43.657
6. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'43.674
7. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'43.767
8. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'43.951
9. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'44.115
10. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'44.170