Six-time British Superbike champion and former MotoGP racer Shane Byrne has won a High Court case against BSB organiser and British circuit owner MotorSport Vision, after he suffered career-ending injuries during a testing crash at Snetterton in 2018.
Byrne, who at the time was reigning BSB champion and sitting third in the 2018 title race, crashed during an in-season test on his Paul Bird Motorsport Ducati at Snetterton and hit a barrier protected by a tyre wall instead of air fencing, sustaining two bruised lungs and fractures to all of his ribs, four vertebrae, collarbone and his neck in two places.
His injuries were found by Judge Peter Blair KC to have been "materially caused" by striking the unprotected tyre barrier, something that the judge found to have been negligent on the behalf of circuit owner MSV, BSB organiser MSV Racing and governing body the FIM.
"It was a breach of the Occupiers Liability Act common duty of care and it was negligent not to have concluded that Type 'A' additional protective devices were required on the outside barrier at the turn for this test day," said the judge in his summary.
"None of the defence evidence, including the opinions of their various experts, has persuaded me that the Type 'A' units - which the defendants themselves put into the location soon after the claimant's accident - would not have protected the claimant from his injuries."
The judge also dismissed claims made by MSV suggesting it was Byrne's actions rather than the impact with the tyre wall that had caused his injuries.
"I am satisfied that the incident was not caused by rider error," he added, citing Byrne's experience not only as a racer but as someone who was familiar with crashing. "Mr Byrne was not the author of his own misfortune and he was not contributorily negligent."
Byrne (above right) had his skull fixed to his body via a metal cage for months after the crash and was told by doctors that he faced the chance of paralysis should he compete and crash again.
Having made a late start in racing after an early career as a road tester for British magazine Fast Bikes, Byrne burst onto the international scene by taking a double World Superbike race victory at Brands Hatch in 2003 while competing as a wildcard en route to lifting his first BSB crown that same year.
That attention led to a MotoGP opportunity in 2004, Byrne joining Aprilia's factory project alongside fellow British racer Jeremy McWilliams before switching to Kenny Roberts' short-lived KTM project for 2005.
Returning to Britain in 2006, he won his second domestic championship in 2008, a success which once again earned him a place on the world stage for the following year, this time as a factory-backed Ducati rider for the Sterilgarda World Superbike team.
Byrne finished his two seasons there inside the top 10 but with only a single podium to his name during that spell, and returned again to British racing for 2011, finishing third in his first season back before going on to dominate by taking four of the next six titles and never finishing lower than second in the standings.
While the court has not yet issued damages, it is expected that its further judgement could result in Byrne being awarded a sum measured in millions of pounds.
MSV is owned by former Formula 1 driver Jonathan Palmer.
In addition to Snetterton it owns Brands Hatch, Donington Park, Oulton Park, Cadwell Park and the Circuito de Navarra in Spain.
The British GB3 and GB4 single-seater series are among the portfolio of circuit-racing categories it operates that also includes the British Superbike championship.
