by Russell Atkins
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Hi guys,
I’m really looking forward to the up-and-coming season with HM Plant Honda, and I can’t wait to get going now! It’s been a long off-season – it seems a long time since we last rode the bikes, and I’m looking forward to actually racing instead of just testing.
Testing has been very good; we’ve been really pleased with the new CBR Honda Fireblade. Compared to what I rode last year it’s a lot different – the bike is a lot smaller, the power is different and it’s just great to be back on a Honda – and testing out in Spain went really well, though I did have a bit of a crash and broke a bone in my hand.
I tested at both
Croft and
Knockhill last week and the hand was a little bit sore, but it never made any difference to my performance at all. In the second test out in Spain I actually rode with the hand injury, and it was fine there too. It was just really swollen and painful, but there are no real problems. I’ll be riding a little bit wounded this weekend, but there are no worries about that and I’ll be giving it my all.
Everything is new this year, but luckily with the testing we have picked up a few things with the bike. They have since been addressed by Honda and HRC, which is fantastic. That just shows what support they put into the team and what a good company they are to work for.
My crew chief Adrian Gorst – along with Steve Blackburn and Matt Lloyd – have been working hard and getting the bike to where it should be. They were pleased with the power as soon as they got the bike out of the crate, and they’ve just been working and developing from then on. It’s putting out good power now, so we’re pleased and we’ll soon see how it fares in the speed traps when we go up against the other bikes this weekend.
![Cal Crutchlow and Leon Haslam [Pic credit: HM Plant Honda]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/418632.jpg)
