Cal Crutchlow is hoping to reward Honda's faith in him with championship glory in British Superbikes next year, on the back of an impressive rookie season in the series in 2007.

The 22-year-old – who clinched the British Supersport laurels with Northpoint Ekerold Honda back in 2006 – competed for Rizla Suzuki during his maiden BSB campaign, storming to pole position at Croft and a podium finish in the Brands Hatch finale en route to ninth position in the final riders' standings, before topping it all off with victory in the Race of the Year at Mallory Park in late October.

Now, however, he is set to return 'home', having been snapped up by defending championship-winning outfit HM Plant Honda alongside Leon Haslam, who has been a title challenger for the past three seasons. Crutchlow admitted the deal meant the bar for 2008 has now been considerably raised.

“I've been pushing to ride for Honda for a long time throughout the year,” the 22-year-old told Crash.net Radio. “I was confident I was going to get the ride, though it did look at some points like I wasn't going to get it. I was in close contact with Neil Tuxworth and Havier Beltran, and luckily it paid off. All I wanted to do was get on with racing and ride for Honda again.

“I had three very good years with them from 2004 to 2006. I went away for a year and now I've come back, and it's good to be back with Honda – I feel part of the family already. HM Plant is such a fantastic team – it has been for the past two years – and it's nice that Honda are behind me again.

“Leon and I are good friends, and have been for a few years now. We get on really well outside of racing, as well as being rivals on the track, and it's good to have a balance between being rivals and friends. I'm looking forward to the challenge, I'm looking forward to trying to beat him, and I'm sure we'll be pushing each other hard.”

A further boost for Crutchlow is the fact he will benefit from having 2007 champion Ryuichi Kiyonari's crew working with him rather than with Haslam, and though the new bike won't be ready for testing for another couple of months yet, Cal is determined not to disappoint.

“I've got the championship-winning team on this side of the garage,” he explained. “I've got Adrian Gorst, Matt Lloyd and Steve Blackburn, which is very good for me and I couldn't have asked for anything more. I know all the boys are very good at what they do; you just have to look at what they've done over the past couple of years to know that they're a good team, and for me to be stepping in is an honour really.

“Obviously the CBR Fireblade is a new bike for next year, but it looks fantastic. We'll be out on it I think in February. It's not confirmed yet, but I know we're going to have enough testing to be able to be competitive at the first race, and I'm looking forward to it.

“Hopefully HM Plant have chosen the right man and we can do a good job for them next year. We're going to push for a title.”