Paul Bird Motorsport


Paul Bird Motorsport are a British motorcycle road racing and rallying organisation. The owner Paul Bird competed as a rally driver and was formerly a solo-rider in motocross.

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.
Showdown podium, end of BSB season 2014
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 a sponsorship arrangement with Be Wiser Insurance and that the 2016 BSB team would be four-time BSB champion Shane Byrne and Glenn Irwin, riding Ducati Panigale Rs. This sponsorship continued until the end of 2019 season. For 2020, the team arranged a new title sponsor by Kent-based Video Telematics business VisionTrack.

Personal life

In December 2015, Paul Bird received a ban from organised sport competitions until July 2017 administered by UKAD, the UK Anti-Doping agency, after failing a standard test for banned substances. He tested positive for cocaine, undertaken after driving in a car rally event in July 2015. This was followed by an eight-year ban imposed in 2019 by UKAD, for refusing a drugs-test following a Welsh rally event in April 2018. The ban will run from 11 July 2018 until 2026.
Bird's son Frank will drive in Ford MSA Formula for Fortec Motorsport in 2016, after the 2015 season in Ginetta Junior Championship.

MotoGP

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

YearBikeTyresRiders123456789101112131415161718PointsPos.
ART GP12QATESPPORFRACATGBRNEDGERITAUSAINDCZESMRARAJPNMALAUSVAL3511th
ART GP12 James Ellison18RetRet111614141514Ret15151314149Ret93511th
PBM 01QATAMEESPFRAITACATNEDGERUSAINDCZEGBRSMRARAMALAUSJPNVAL1012th
PBM 01 Damian CudlinRetRet2121Ret1012th
PBM 01 Michael Laverty1716131717Ret2216Ret181819181012th
ART GP13 Michael LavertyRetRet1819171012th
ART GP13 Yonny Hernández1415RetRet161319Ret15Ret1620Ret1012th
PBMQATAMEARGESPFRAITACATNEDGERINDCZEGBRSMRARAJPNAUSMALVAL1812th
PBM Broc Parkes15Ret21171817161121151921181820Ret14201812th
PBM Michael Laverty1616181616161721Ret14Ret171716181312191812th