On the back of a promising debut season in British Superbikes last year – crowned by a rostrum finish in the final race – Cal Crutchlow has been snapped up to compete for the factory HM Plant Honda outfit in the series in 2008. He is leaving little doubt that he will be gunning for glory right from the off…
Happy New Year everyone!
Well what a past few months it’s been! I’ve being doing my best to keep busy during the winter, and I have to say I’ve not done a bad job!
My HM Plant Honda deal came about when both myself and Neil Tuxworth (HM Plant team manager) tried to contact each other at the same time!
I was keen to get back with Honda after winning the British Supersport title for them in 2006. Who wouldn’t want to go to Honda? After all they are the championship-winning team. They have won the title twice in a row, and I want to make it three in a row for them.
I’ve been spending quite a lot of time at Honda getting to know the team and learning about my new bike, and how it will be out of the box as it is a totally new bike for this year. I’ve been talking with my crew chief Adrian Gorst and been measured up for my race bike. The boys are working hard; they are flat-out already. Honda is putting in a big effort for the title challenge.
It’s great having Leon Haslam as my team-mate too; we are good friends, which really helps. He has finished third and second in the championship over the past two years, but there are a lot of young riders who are going to push him. That said, Honda has still got to be the title favourite as its riders finished first and second last year.
We haven’t tested yet, but I’ve ridden the Fireblade out in Qatar and as a standard road bike and I was impressed – I can’t wait to get out on the bike in full Superbike trim and put a few laps under my belt! We will be testing at the end of February and should get a lot of time on it.
