It is no secret that Honda has struggled with the development of its AMA Superbike over the past several years. Come to think of it, everyone has struggled except Yoshimura Suzuki. Honda may have a secret weapon in its development of the all-new CBR1000RR into a competitive superbike, however.
The Hannspree Ten Kate Honda WSB team may have lost world champion James Toseland to MotoGP this year, but they gained the experienced MotoGP rider Carlos Checa. Hannspree Ten Kate has been known to develop competitive, winning superbikes (and supersport machines) for world competition. Toseland won last year on a Honda, while American Honda has struggled recently to keep the Suzukis in sight. It is worth noting that Checa went very quick in Qatar over a month ago, on a largely undeveloped Ten Kate CBR1000RR superbike (Checa was less than a second off the time set by Ducati’s former champ Troy Bayliss, who was quickest in Qatar).
We desperately need competition for Yoshimura Suzuki in the AMA Superbike series. With newly signed Neil Hodgson (teaming with Miguel Duhamel this year), American Honda can compete on rider talent with Suzuki, but they may need, and welcome, development help from Hannspree Ten Kate.
