2016 name Be Wiser Ducati Motorcycle Ducati Panigale R Tyre Pirelli | Principal Paul Bird Tyres Pirelli | |
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Base Penrith, Cumbria, England Rider(s) 67 Shane Byrne
Glenn Irwin | ||
Paul Bird Motorsport is a British motorcycle road racing and rallying organisation. The owner Paul Bird competed as a rally driver and was formerly a competitor in motocross.
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Motorcycle racing
The team competes in the British Superbike Championship, using Ducati machinery for 2016, based on the 1199 Panigale R, a change of manufacturer from Kawasaki. They managed the Kawasaki World Superbike team until 2011, and competed in MotoGP from the 2012 season.
PBM competed in the 2014 British Superbike Championship as a two-rider team with Shane Byrne and Stuart Easton on board Kawasakis. Also in 2014 Ian Hutchinson joined Paul Bird Motorsport for a few rounds of Pirelli National Superstock 1000 competition on the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki team, after which he again competed in the Macau road GP on Shane Byrne's superbike, but without his previous year's success, overshooting a corner and retiring after a low-speed fall. The race was won by PBM rider Stuart Easton.
For 2015 Hutchinson competed in selected BSB rounds and Paul Bird's first foray into racing on closed public roads in UK, involving the North West 200 and the Ulster Grand Prix in Northern Ireland and also in the Isle of Man TT races, where he won three TT races and a TT Championship.
On 16 October 2015 Paul Bird Motorsport announced their partnership with Be Wiser Insurance and that the BSB team for 2016 would consist of four-time BSB champion Shane Byrne and Glenn Irwin, riding Ducati Panigale Rs.
Personal life
In December 2015, Paul Bird received a ban from organised sport competitions until July 2017 administered by UKAD, after failing a standard test for banned substances, undertaken after driving in a car rally event in July 2015.
Bird's son Frank will drive in Ford MSA Formula for Fortec Motorsport in 2016, after the 2015 season in Ginetta Junior Championship.
MotoGP teams
PBM competed in the 2012 MotoGP season with an ART-Aprilia bike entered to CRT regulations ridden by James Ellison, and with riders Michael Laverty and Broc Parkes in the 2014 MotoGP season before disbanding to concentrate on British Superbikes.
Results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)