Byrne makes KR-KTM debut.

As previously reported, Shane Byrne made his debut on the Team KR-KTM, with Michelin tyres, during a shakedown test at Valencia on Monday - providing the Brit with his first taste of the V4 powered machine he hopes to campaign in the 2005 MotoGP World Championship.

Because he has still not signed with the team, Shakey reported on his official website that he is riding as a KTM test rider, but says the KR deal is 'as good as done'.

"At last some good news, not 100% perfect news yet but good news nonetheless!" commented Byrne. "Firstly and most importantly I got to ride a race bike today for the first time in like six months or something, unfortunately even now as I sit here I can't tell you've that I've signed because I haven't yet.

"I'm here for this test as KTM's test rider which however you take it means I get to ride the bike so for now that's cool. It's been a funny old scenario really, everything bar the contract has happened spot on, getting fitted up to the bike, getting measured up for my cool new Alpinestars kit, doing a deal to stay with Shoei which again I'm real happy about.

"The only thing left is the contract, we're pretty much at the stage now where nothing can really go wrong so in theory it's as good as done but technically not quite done."

Shakey also had nothing but praise for the machine he hopes to ride in the up-coming season, commenting that it is night and day different from the 'brute' of a machine he rode last season for Aprilia.

"The Team Roberts guys have been awesome to work with which kind of makes the whole thing slightly more frustrating, I want this whole thing to work out so bad!" he admitted.

"The bike sounds awesome, they fired it up in pit lane this morning and my stomach was doing somersaults, my heart rate was about 350 beats per minute and I was just standing there thinking taking deep breaths 'calm down it's gonna be fine', it didn't help much at the time though!

"I rode the bike out of pit lane and onto the track, round the first turn and down the short straight towards turn two and all I could think was 'hold on a minute, something's not right, this things far too well behaved, why isn't it trying to kill me, why am I not thinking what on earth am I gonna do with this thing!'.

"Honestly you just cannot appreciate how different it is from the Aprilia, they are totally opposite ends of the spectrum. The Aprilia felt about 200bhp more powerful than the KTM.

"In reality they'd probably be about the same at a guess, but the Aprilia was kinda brute power, something that needed taming. Where as the KTM is so docile you could literally ride the thing to the shops, that's not to say it's slow or not powerful it's just unbelievably user friendly," he concluded.

Team KR and Byrne are due to complete their shakedown test today, Tuesday 8th March.