« I can't, that day I was swimming » seems to be the recurring leitmotif of the drivers to whom Honda offers to ride one of its official machines at the next Suzuka 8H. From the riders' point of view, there are more negatives than positives in being on a CBR1000RR during the endurance classic which will take place on July 30.
One of the disadvantages of this event is that it takes place in the middle of the season, and the drivers must make several trips to Japan to familiarize themselves with the mount, as well as its pneumatic equipment. Travel time and time difference are serious obstacles. At Honda, the starting bonuses are not huge, but the arrival bonuses and the prices are more substantial. So going to ride there on an uncompetitive machine is not very motivating. Especially since the Yamahas look very difficult to beat.
How competitive is the 2017 Fireblade? What basis for comparison do we have? In the current provisional ranking of the Superbike World Championship, Bradl is twelfth with his official Honda behind several privateers, such as Roman Ramos on one of the Kawasakis of a modest Italian team including Grillini, Pedercini, Go Eleven and Puccetti.
In endurance, FCC TSR, Honda's leading team in the World Championship, preferred to race the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the old model rather than the 2017. FCC TSR should race at Suzuka with its classic crew composed by Damien Cudlin, Alain Techer and Gregg Black.
For the top MuSASHI RT HARC PRO team, the tragic death of Nicky Hayden was a huge loss, and an offer was made to Cal Crutchlow, with a good chunk of dollars on offer, who declined. invitation. Offers were therefore made to Jack Miller, Takaaki Nakagami, Takuma Takahashi and Stefan Bradl. For any Honda driver, a refusal is quite difficult to formulate, because the 8 Hours are organized by Honda on the Suzuka circuit which belongs to the manufacturer. Declining the offer is therefore not the best way to be offered a competitive machine, for example in MotoGP.
Photos © Motorland Suzuka and Speed of Japan
Partial source: speedweek. com
