Yesterday (Wednesday) saw Aprilia Shane Byrne ride the latest specification Aprilia RS Cube for the first🌺 time, during the second day of testing at Jerez.

The Brit completed 53 laps of the Spanish circuit on the 'new' machine,ꦜ which he and team-mate Jeremy McWilliams had expected to ride for most of the 2004 season.

Byrne's best lap was a 1min 43.957secs effort, which was 0.796secs quicker than he'd been on the♊ standard spec machine the day before. However, it still left the 2003 British Superbike champion at the tail of the timesheets, 0.182secs behind team test rider Marcellino Lucchi.

"T🔯his bike is a step forward and represents a great starting point towards a competitive bike," said Byrne afterwards. "This Cube is steadier than the old one, and less tiring to ride. I'm not at my best yet as my wrist's still recovering, but I need to cover a lot of laps..."