Byrne: I'm treating it like solid gold!

Shane 'Shakey' Byrne had his first taste of the MotoGP big time at Malaysia today, when he completed his debut laps on the race-winning Camel Honda RC211V.

The former British Superbike Champion will replace the injured Troy Bayliss at both the Malaysian and Qatar Grands Prix and rode carefully on the new machine in the dry morning hour, before facing a tricky wet track in the afternoon session.

The former Team Roberts rider was 18th out of the 20 riders in the morning - 5.379secs behind fastest man Sete Gibernau - and then matched that position in the afternoon, lapping 5.274secs from Suzuki's Kenny Roberts.

Afterwards, Byrne admitted it had been a very tense day and that he was going to try and relax more in final free practice and qualifying on Saturday.

"I was treating the bike like a lump of solid gold and tomorrow I hope to lighten up and start enjoying riding such a brilliant bike," he explained after completing a total of 41 Friday laps.

"The outright power of the bike did not blow me away, but it was the connection between the throttle and the engine, which produced such smooth power. You just touched the throttle and it did what you wanted. I need to get the front end working better and start enjoying myself.

"We had several things lined up for this afternoon, but unfortunately the conditions were mixed and that, combined with the fact that I'm riding cautiously at the moment, trying not make any mistakes, means that we haven't been able to get very far today.

"We're hoping that tomorrow the weather allows us to work a bit more, because the team have a few good ideas we can try. I'm working really well with them and I can't wait for tomorrow now," he concluded.

"Everything is new for Shane, there's so much to work out, both with the team and the bike, and he has to pick it up as he goes along," added team owner Sito Pons.

"Slowly he will understand how to get the best out of both the engine and the chassis, and he will gradually get comfortable on the RC211V.

"This afternoon he wasn't able to improve his time because of the rain, but if he is able to work tomorrow, he will make a big step forward," declared the Spaniard.

Byrne's team-mate Alex Barros, who took his Camel machine to victory in the Portuguese Grand Prix earlier this season, was fifth fastest in the dry and second fastest in the wet.