Boyzone star revs up to be in poll position at his favourite track

23rd April 2011

BOYZONE superstar Shane Lynch is spending this weekend at one of his favourite places in the world – Donington Park.

The singer, who has just finished a tour with the multi-million-selling Irish band, is competing in the British Drift Championship, the first of six circuits to host the event.

The 34-year-old said he grew up loving motor sports, having been taken to his first stock car race when he was only a week old.

Now he is confident he can walk away as the 2011 British Drift Champion after finishing fourth last year.

Shane said: "Five weeks ago I finished the tour with Boyzone where you are performing in front of 10,000 to 20,000 people every night which is the biggest buzz in the world.

"The question is how do you maintain that high in your everyday life? Well I've found that with drift racing – the speed of the car, the screeching tyres, the smell of the oil."

Drift racing is a high-speed motor sport that has been going in the UK for seven years.

An extreme sport, drivers perform a range of tricks, including skidding sideways at speeds of up to 100mph, to impress judges.

And rather than being decided by the first over the line, the winner is judged on control of the car and skill of the tricks performed.

Shane said: "My father was a mechanic and I grew up in a family that was mad on motor sport. Before I joined Boyzone I worked as a mechanic at my dad's garage.

"I didn't race as a kid though. My first-ever race was here at Donington Park so it's a circuit I absolutely love. It's one of my favourite places."

Yesterday Shane and more than 80 other drivers gathered at the track to receive their briefing and today he will compete in the hope of finishing first.

Married to singer Sheena White, the couple have a two-year-old daughter, called Billie Rae.

Shane said: "My wife understands the dangers and I did have a serious crash a few years ago.

"My daughter is a proper little petrol head. She loves the noise of the engines when she comes to see me practise."

Shane drives for Team Japspeed, whose manager is Paul McCallum.

Paul said: "The fans here in the East Midlands always bring a great atmosphere to Donington.

"With the car Shane is driving and his ability, I see no reason why he can't go all the way and win this year."

http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/Boyzone-star-revs-poll-position-favourite-track/story-11564977-detail/story.html

'Back to the Job'

27th October 2010

Shane's going to be on new tv programme for ITV4 entitled 'Back to the Job'.

To read more about it click the link below
http://www.itv.com/presscentre/backonthejob/week45shanelynch/default.html

Or better still, get your bum sat on the sofa in front of the telly on 8th November from 10pm-11pm to see what it's all about!

Get Surrey Article - Shane is Prince Charming

27th October 2010

Here's an article from getsurrey.co.uk posted 7th October, all about Shane's panto role in Sleeping Beauty at Guildford this Christmas.

Boyzone's Shane Lynch is Prince Charming
By Jacky Byrne
WITH tattoos jostling for space on his muscle bound body, Boyzone star Shane Lynch isn’t a classic choice for the role of Prince Charming in the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre’s 2010 panto Sleeping Beauty.

But in fact ‘charming’ is the word that his co-stars all use to describe him.

For most of the cast and crew it is the first time they’ve met him and everyone seems impressed at his down-to-earth demeanour.

After all, you might expect a little diva attitude from a member of a boy band whose latest album was a chart topper in March this year. And Shane, whose five sisters include twins who were members of the girl band B*Witched, does come with a bit of a back story.

In Boyzone’s original heyday in the 1990s, he was the rebel in a band with a clean cut image, dressing casually when the others wore suits and prone to the odd angry outburst, especially against the tabloid press.

Perhaps he has tamed down since he became a Christian several years ago, or maybe his marriage to make-up artist Sheena White and the birth of his daughter in 2008 have mellowed him.

But despite the friendly grin there is still a trace of wariness in the intensity of his gaze. It’s Shane’s fifth panto and the third he’s done for Evolution, the production company that has presented the Guildford panto for several years.

He says that Guildford audiences are spoken of highly in the industry. “It’s my pleasure to be here, really,” says the star, who will delight his fans by singing in the show. Shane has a lifestyle to suit his action hero image. When he’s not turning out hits with the reunited Boyzone, he’s motor racing or appearing in reality TV shows.

“I’m one of those people who can’t say no. One minute I’m standing on a stage doing panto, the next I’m behind the wheel of a racing car or in front of a microphone. I take after my dad like that, I’ve always got to have a project. At 12 I was a businessman importing urban music into Ireland, at 14 I had my own breakers’ yard. I am dyslexic so wasn’t academic at school and knew I wasn’t an office man but I’m a chancer.”

It was the can-do spirit that famously led him and his bandmates to the door of Louis Walsh, producer and now The X Factor judge. Chart success and adulation followed but by 2000 the band had unofficially split up.

Shane agrees there were artistic differences and a long hiatus followed before a reunion in 2008 and their chart success with the album Brother this year, which was named in memory of band member Stephen Gately who died of pulmonary oedema in October 2009.

Shane says that it was good for the band to have time apart and that they are now very supportive of each other and looking forward to a UK tour which starts soon after the curtain descends on Sleeping Beauty.

“It made us realise how much we missed each other. Stephen’s death gave us a big reason to move forward and finish the album we started with him. He is a massive chunk out of our lives and our music but we keep him alive in spirit with our work.”

Weekends usually find Shane, a former mechanic and a big Lewis Hamilton fan, on a motor circuit. He has competed in the British GT Championships and is now successfully drift racing. He acknowledges that the difficulties in a high octane lifestyle like his are in coming down from the high. “That’s why lots of guys who are performers are in rehab. Your brain goes at 100 miles an hour so you pour yourself a glass of vodka to try and get back to normal.”

At 34 Shane hopes he’s learnt to deal with it. Daily workouts in his gym at home near Gatwick help and so does his family.

So what will his take on Prince Charming be? “I’m not really planning to break with tradition. If you look at the lifestyle of kids today, a lot of it is more extreme and the goodies now look like the baddies used to so I don’t think they’ll react to me any differently although I’m a contemporary prince. I just want to put on a good show.”

Sleeping Beauty starts on Friday December 3 and runs until Sunday January 9, 2011. Tickets are available from the box office on 01483 440000 or online at http://www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk/.

http://tinyurl.com/38umh9c

Stars Cars - Joe.ie

27th October 2010

From the 3rd October, comes an interview on all things cars.

Behind the wheel with Shane Lynch

Shane Lynch is probably best known as part of Irish boyband turned manband Boyzone. He’s also an enthusiastic poker player and an even more enthusiastic petrolhead. He currently takes part in the highly-technical motor sport of drift racing where he’s sponsored by betting company Ladbrokes.

When he’s not on tour with Boyzone, at the track or at the poker table he drives a monster American truck, the Ford F-150 Harley. He took time out from playing poker at the Ladbrokes Poker Festival in Killarney to share his four wheel-related thoughts with JOE.

What was your first car?

My first car was a Mk1 GTi Golf. I was a car mechanic from the beginning. I was just mad into cars, and that was an affordable car when I was 17. I paid £800 back in the day. A couple of my boys had GTi Golfs at the time, and I blew a gearbox in mine and ended up putting a diesel gearbox into the petrol car, giving it a longer first and second gear which technically made it that little bit faster than the rest of the boys.

What made you chose your current set of wheels?

I love a van. I’m a big fan of the Ford Transit and think every man needs to own a van. I own a clothing company and loaned my van to one of the drivers at the clothing company. Unfortunately he smashed it, so with that gone I decided to move up and by a Ford-F150 Harley Truck. It’s got a four door cab, it’s big and it’s beautiful with loads of space and is effectively my replacement van.

What’s on your stereo?

I mostly listen to funk, reggae or hip hop when I’m driving.

How nifty are you at changing a wheel?

Let’s cut to the chase. I was down at the Renault Formula 1 team garage the other day and they set me a challenge of performing a pit stop. The Formula 1 guys did it in 2.3 seconds. I did it in 2.6 seconds. So I may not be as good as them, but I’m pretty good.

The perfect car with the perfect companion would be...?

I don’t think the perfect car exists. My driveway consists of about ten cars because I can’t find the perfect car. As for the perfect companion, well that could only be the wife.

And your favourite drive?

Recently, the most uplifting and fun drive I had was as part of the Cannonball Run across Ireland. I did that over about three days. It was some buzz – I hadn’t had that much fun in a car driving around legally on the open road since I was a kid.

Obviously you’re a brilliant driver, but what trait in other drivers really grinds your gears?

I hate sneaky drivers. They really wind me up.

Women can’t drive. Discuss.

I think there are a lot of fabulous women drivers out there. I think the majority of women get a hard time, although they can sometimes be a little lackadaisical and not so good at concentrating when they’re behind the wheel.

http://www.joe.ie/motors/stars-cars/behind-the-wheel-with-shane-lynch-005815-1

Speedhunters.com Interview

27th October 2010

Time to catch up with some interviews/articles from the last couple of months. First up is an interview from speedhunters.com posted on 7th September.

Click the link to read Shane talk about his career in motorsport and his extensive tattoo collection, as well as to look at some rather lovely photos a lot like the one below

http://speedhunters.com/archive/2010/09/07/interview-gt-gt-shane-lynch.aspx

(c)speedhunters.com

Shane to play Prince Charming...

30th June 2010

Shane will be playing Prince Charming in this year's Sleeping Beauty Pantomime at Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford

The panto will run from 3rd Dec until 9th Jan

To get your tickets visit - http://www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk/stage.asp?s=719

What happens in Vegas

30th June 2010

Shane flew out to the USA today to take part in the World Series of Poker, held annually in Las Vegas. The series culminates with the $10,000 no-limit hold’em “Main Event”, which since 2004 has attracted entrants numbering in the thousands with the victor receiving a multi-million dollar prize.

The winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event is considered to be the World Champion of Poker. However Shane reckons he’ll be playing a couple of hands before retiring gracefully to the bar!! You never know though, he may have the luck of the Irish with him ..

http://www.boyzone.net/2010/06/what-happens-in-vegas/