Freezing temperatures and rain showers hampered the second day of private testing at Valencia. The Aprilia team even packed in early and won’t be testing tomorrow, because Max Biaggi and Leon Camier will be in Montecarlo for Piaggio’s European Dealers Convention.

“Unfortunately this time the weather was against us,” declared Max Biaggi, “and this could be a problem because we didn’t get the confirmation we were looking for. In addition our rivals will also be testing tomorrow, when it’s expected to be sunny. Now the situation is a bit more complicated, we’ll be testing in Australia before the race, but if there are any problems then it will be too late to do anything. I’m still optimistic however because I have every confidence in the work of the Aprilia engineers“.

Xerox Ducati rider Noriyuki Haga completed 19 laps, while team mate Michel Fabrizio did about four before heading back to his garage. Shane Byrne and Carlos Checa riding their Althea Ducati’s also did a handful of laps before calling it quits.

Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus each managed about 10 laps with very high lap times on their BMW S 1000 RR and they too decided that riding in today’s weather wouldn’t produce any decent testing.

Aprilia won’t be on track tomorrow, while Ducati, BMW, Althea Ducati and Team Pata (Borciani-Guandalini) will try to get some testing done, weather permitting.

Source | wsbk

Continue reading: WSBK: Second Day of Testing at Valencia with more bad weather

It looks like Shane Byrne is going to be leaving Marco Borciani’s Team Sterilgarda BRC Racing and is heading towards Althea Ducati in 2010.

The British rider had been spotted entering the Althea Honda (before switching to Ducati ) truck during the Portimao weekend and apparantly the rider is about to close a deal with Genesio Bevilacqua’s Italian team according to MCN.

Althea decided to switch marques for the upcoming 2010 World Superbike season and announced that they wanted another rider after signing up veteran Spanish rider Carlos Checa. Ducati Corse is keen on keeping Byrne on one of their satellite bikes and could help in finalizing the deal.

Byrne’s finished eighth in this year’s standings, after a lacklustre 2009 season begining came back very strong during the second half, taking second place at Misano and several fourth places.

UPDATED

Althea Racing has confirmed signing Shane Byrne. More after the jump.

Continue reading: WSBK: Shane Byrne to Althea Ducati?