KENT motorcycle ace Shane Byrne enters a new phase in his career this weekend as he lines up for his first race in MotoGP.

Byrne, from Minster, near Sheerness, now with Aprilia, has jetted off to South Africa for the first race at the Phakisa Freeway circuit where he will line up with the best riders in the world.

Testing has gone extremely well with last season’s British Superbike champion recording times comparable with last year’s times.

Unfortunately, other teams have upgraded their machines and although at Catalunya two weeks ago Byrne was only 1.5 seconds behind champion Valentino Rossi, who was quickest, he was still down in 16th place.

Byrne, known as Shakey, admitted he was frustrated at the thought of riding last year’s machine but was looking forward to getting started.

He said: “Testing has gone real good. I'm doing times that are up there with last season’s times but unfortunately everyone else has moved on. The team is working flat out to get the new bits ready but I don’t know when they’ll be ready.

“It was a bit of a shock being that far behind Rossi, who is the man.

“But I have to remember that I'm riding against the best riders in the world. Hopefully though, I can get out there and score some points."

* The race will be broadcast live on British Eurosport from 9am on Sunday.