17th February Team Honda Racing is GO! The official launch of the new factory Honda team was held yesterday at the Watermark Bar in Melbourne’s popular Docklands precinct. Key people from the various companies that support the race team were in attendance to help celebrate the occasion including Doric Products, Oleon Oils, AWS, Select Trucks, NGK and Monza. The team were also joined by special guest, Cam Donald winner of the renowned Isle of Man TT road race in 2008 in both Superbike and Superstock and himself riding a Honda this year for Wilson Craig Racing on the international road racing scene. General Manager of Motorcycles at Honda Australia, Tony Hinton gave a brief history of Honda’s success over the years in the racing arena and an account of the successful collaboration between Honda and Paul Free, Team Principle of Team Honda Racing. “Honda Australia is thrilled to be back on board with Paul Free with Team Honda Racing for 2011, this is a collaboration that started almost a decade ago and has developed into a truly successful partnership. We are excited to have such high calibre riders on the team with Jamie and Wayne, both come with excellent credentials and we are in no doubt they will both offer standout performances as part of this fresh Team Honda Racing for 2011″. If a history of back to back Superbike and Supersport Championships in 2004 and 2005 weren’t enough to impress the guests, the unveiling of the new Team Honda Racing CBR1000RR certainly did. The new livery is every bit as eye-catching as expected from Paul Free’s team. Mark Stiegler from Techspec commented that Free always manages to “nail the bike design.” Standing out on the track will not be an issue for the Honda team with their bright colours and Honda Fireblades. Team Principle Paul Free believes so; “The Honda CBR1000RR for 2011 is like no other bike we have built before. We are employing a few new systems on the bike this year including the Motec engine management system and SMART Racing Components, both of which are proving extremely successful in testing. Add to that two of the best riders in the country in Jamie Stauffer and Wayne Maxwell and I believe we have a very, very competitive motorcycle package.” Having come so close to a championship in recent years Wayne Maxwell is looking forward to the 2011 Superbike season; #47 Wayne Maxwell says, “It would be great to convert all my hard work into a championship win this year for myself and the team. We have done quite a bit of testing with the new SMART components and the Motec system and the bike is great, I’m really comfortable on it.” Although having not raced together in the past, #27 Jamie Stauffer has enjoyed the dynamic between himself and team mate Wayne Maxwell; “Wayne and I have never raced in a team together, but we get along really well. We are both competing to win the championship of course, but above all we are part of a team and we share information readily. Our bike set-up is actually not that different so the process works well.” To complement the launch of the team yesterday was the launch of their new Team Honda Racing website. The vibrant site at www.teamhondaracing.com.au provides background on the team and the bikes and will be an up-to-date resource for racing news, photos and footage of the 2011 ASBK Season. The Launch was a toast to the new Team Honda Racing, an opportunity for rider photos and a chance to check out the CBR1000RR before it hits the track. Team Honda Racing is officially ready to compete at the first round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Phillip Island during the first World Superbike Event on February 25th 27th.