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.
