Joined Feb 2007
6K Posts | 58+
Rovrum S,Yorks Eng
CASTROL HONDA is making a return to the World Superbike Championship.
The latest incarnation of an iconic team has returned to the World Superbike championship following today's launch of the new Castrol Honda team, with the global lubricants brand announcing title sponsorship of Honda's superbike effort for the upcoming 2011 title race.
The new team will feature riders Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus campaigning Honda's CBR1000RR Fireblade, with the squad being run by the Netherlands-based Ten Kate Racing outfit, who have led Honda's World Superbike effort since 2004.
Castrol's association with Honda's motorcycle racing activities goes all the way back to the Japanese manufacturer's first foray into the sport at the Isle of Man TT in 1959 and the two companies celebrated 50 years of racing together in 2009.
While Castrol has maintained support of Honda's annual World Superbike championship effort in recent years, its previous title sponsorship of the Castrol Honda team generated no fewer than three world titles, with John Kocinski in 1997 and then twice with fellow American rider Colin Edwards in 2000 and 2002.
For Jonathan Rea, 23, the new season, which opens on 27 February at Phillip Island in Australia, will be his third in the World Superbike championship. The Northern Irishman finished in fifth place in 2009, taking two wins, a tally which he doubled last season on his way to fourth place in the championship.
Ruben Xaus, meanwhile, first competed in the World Superbike championship in 1998 and finished as runner-up in 2003 before a two-year spell in MotoGP. The 32-year-old Catalan rider has 11 career wins to his name and a total of 35 podium finishes to date.
Read more: http://www.visordown...l#ixzz1BOOqibWy
11399:25351.jpg]
2002
11400:vlcsnap-2011-01-18-13h29m31s149.jpg]
The latest incarnation of an iconic team has returned to the World Superbike championship following today's launch of the new Castrol Honda team, with the global lubricants brand announcing title sponsorship of Honda's superbike effort for the upcoming 2011 title race.
The new team will feature riders Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus campaigning Honda's CBR1000RR Fireblade, with the squad being run by the Netherlands-based Ten Kate Racing outfit, who have led Honda's World Superbike effort since 2004.
Castrol's association with Honda's motorcycle racing activities goes all the way back to the Japanese manufacturer's first foray into the sport at the Isle of Man TT in 1959 and the two companies celebrated 50 years of racing together in 2009.
While Castrol has maintained support of Honda's annual World Superbike championship effort in recent years, its previous title sponsorship of the Castrol Honda team generated no fewer than three world titles, with John Kocinski in 1997 and then twice with fellow American rider Colin Edwards in 2000 and 2002.
For Jonathan Rea, 23, the new season, which opens on 27 February at Phillip Island in Australia, will be his third in the World Superbike championship. The Northern Irishman finished in fifth place in 2009, taking two wins, a tally which he doubled last season on his way to fourth place in the championship.
Ruben Xaus, meanwhile, first competed in the World Superbike championship in 1998 and finished as runner-up in 2003 before a two-year spell in MotoGP. The 32-year-old Catalan rider has 11 career wins to his name and a total of 35 podium finishes to date.
Read more: http://www.visordown...l#ixzz1BOOqibWy
11399:25351.jpg]
2002
11400:vlcsnap-2011-01-18-13h29m31s149.jpg]
