Team Honda Racing is officially ready race! The factory Honda team held their team launch yesterday at the Watermark Bar at Docklands in Melbourne in the lead up to the World Superbike Event at Phillip Island next weekend. The Team Honda Racing Riders, #27 Jamie Stauffer, #47 Wayne Maxwell and #34 Josh Hook all gave their thoughts on the season ahead before unveiling the stunning, bright red livery of their new model CBR1000RRs and the CBR600RR. It was their first opportunity to view their machines in the new livery and all 3 riders were keen to take a closer look. Special Guest at the launch of Team Honda Racing was World Superbike Rider for Ten Kate Honda, #65 Johnny Rea. Pleased to start the season at the Phillip Island Circuit, Rea spoke of his preparation for the 2012 season and wished the Australian contingent all the best for the year. Team Principle Paul Free echoed the thoughts of General Manager of Motorcycles of Honda, Tony Hinton when we expressed his excitement at returning to the 600 Supersport category in 2012. Both Free and Hinton agreed it will be a very strong season for the new Honda CBR1000RR and the CBR600RR with such a strong and competitive rider line-up in Maxwell, Stauffer and Hook. The strength of Team Honda Racing stems in no small way from the fantastic support of their team partners and yesterday that support was as evident as ever with so many in attendance at the launch. Managing Director of Honda MPE, Mr Zenjiro Sakurai along with General Manager of Motorcycles, Tony Hinton and the marketing team at Honda were a testament to the strong and invaluable factory support given to Team Honda Racing, with Marketing Manager Glyn Griffiths even taking a leading role as MC for the launch. Team Honda Racing would like to take the opportunity to welcome 2 new partners to the team who were also present to celebrate the start of the season. Honda Motorcycle Insurances and Patterson Cheney group are an invaluable addition to Team Honda Racing. Also in attendance to lend support for the new season were Doric Products, AWS Vantage, Oleon Oils, BOQ Honda Finance, NGK, HART, Monza, Andrew Price and Dunlop. The official launch of Team Honda Racing was a great success and the team would like to thank everyone for their fantastic support going into the season. Team Honda Racing will compete at the first round of the ASBK which takes place at the World Superbike Event 24th-26th February and with a 38 strong field at Round 1 the year ahead looks set to be an exciting one.