Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne, from Sittingbourne, speaks to FUCHS SILKOLENE, one of the main partners of the six-time British Superbike champion.

Here we are on the brink of another British Superbike season – and it’s felt like a long time coming.

I have done everything I can to avoid the British winter by travelling to California, Spain, Czech Republic and Majorca. I’m not a fair-weather rider by any stretch of the imagination but I don’t enjoy being cold and getting ill, so I’ve tried to keep away from it all – quite successfully.

All the travelling means it seems like a long time ago I was doing what looked improbable by winning my sixth title on the last day of the 2017 season. I am chomping at the bit to get back racing this weekend.

Like everyone, our testing was hampered by the weather, even when we were out on the track in Spain. I would’ve liked to have had more minutes on the bike but, as it stands right now, my new bike is fundamentally the same as it was last season, so that should help with getting off to a strong start.

I am wary that you can’t stand still in racing and you need to keep making improvements to the bike. Hopefully that will come later in the season but, for now, there is some reassurance in that I know this bike inside and out, and we know that all the settings will work right from the off.

I am 41 now but I can honestly say that I feel really, really good. A lot of that is down to training. The good thing for me is that I genuinely enjoy it. The minute I leave the race track I want to forget about racing. I’ve had enough of it, but then in the week I go out for a three-hour cycle and to the gym and I never tire of that. By the time race day comes around again, I’m ready for it – physically and mentally.

It is going to be a tough, competitive season, as it always is in BSB. There are going to be some guys who are quicker than they were last year and it’s down to me to raise my game once again.

I’d assume that it’ll be the same people challenging at the top, but I try not to think about other people because you can get caught up in it all. I don’t care who’s behind me at the end of the day.

This weekend at Donington will be a good indication of where we all are. After last season when I got off to a disastrous start and crashed in the warm-up, just finishing the first two races would be an improvement! Two wins is obviously the objective – the day that changes will be the day I retire – but we’ll have to see how the weekend pans out.