Honda’s Young Guns Set To Load MotoGP Bullets It may take a few years for the significance of the 2005 racing season to become fully recognised as another watershed for MotoGP, but posterity may look at it as the beginning of the end of an era in terms of the make-up of the grid. For almost a decade, the same basic backbone of riders has monopolised the top MotoGP berths, across the spectrum of participating teams and manufacturers. That generation is about to come to a natural end, and a new batch of riders is massing on the borders of MotoGP careers, just waiting for a signal to advance. A bold statement to make maybe, as few of the young riders we are about to discuss have even competed in a single MotoGP race as yet. Nonetheless a quartet of aggressive and accomplished MotoGP wannabe’s are about to taste the ultimate in four-stroke GP racing a full factory RC211V at Valencia on Wednesday 9th November. Honda riders Thomas Luthi (Elit Honda RS125R), Andrea Dovizioso (Kopron Team Scot RS250RW), Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda CBR1000R) and Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR) will be given the chance to experience the demanding charms of the RC211V at Valencia, partly as a reward for their great efforts in their own classes, and also as a reminder to them that there is a lot more to come in a few years time, if their careers keep heading in an upward spiral. What’s better than winning the World 125cc Championship on a buzzing little two-stroke bee of a machine, with a single stinging cylinder? For new champion Luthi, probably nothing imaginable at present, only days after his triumph in the 2005 series, but he is nonetheless in line for a taste of the sweetest honey; the golden result of Honda’s industrious workers in the race department, the RC211V. Five cylinder’s instead of one, whirring cams and baying exhaust notes, the RC211V so much horsepower no circuit can truly ever corral it entirely, and the latest in Honda’s astounding heritage of four-stroke racers must look like the steepest side of the Matterhorn to Luthi right now. The young Swiss without a full-sized racetrack in his country at all because of long-standing legislative intervention has had an outstandingly unusual road to success. Still not even 20 years old, Luthi started out at the tender age of nine years, running in the Swiss Pocket bike Championship, usually held on makeshift tracks around large, out-of-town Supermarkets. His Mother Sylvia and ex-Honda Cup racer father Hansueli helped him along, with his mother cited as his biggest supporter in his young career, in which he was to win eventual Swiss titles on the baby bikes. Having to travel to Germany to begin his ‘real’ racing career, he was one of many young German-speaking riders to compete in the ADAC series, but despite his clear talent, his career only really took off this year. His previous seasons were marked with good results, then misfortune, but in 2005, the combination of his Elit team, the RS125R Honda and Luthi cracked the code for first race, then Championship victory. His total of four race wins (all coming this year) was not added to at the final round in Valencia, but his name was added to the ultimate role of honour in the smallest modern day GP class. The fact that he was due to ride the RC211V was kept from Thomas before Valencia, to allow him to concentrate on the vital job of securing his title, so his sense of excitement must be as keen any rider’s would be when given the chance to fire up the ultimate in MotoGP ordnance. The feat Luthi pulled off in 2005 was the same as that completed by Dovizioso in 2004 – winning the 125cc championship. For ‘Dovi’ a rider with a deceptively languid expression when off duty and a measured approach to the job when in charge of a set of handlebars, his success led to an immediate promotion for both rider and team into the upper echelons of the 250cc class. His first season in 250cc racing delivered him four podium finishes, and an overall third in the championship, the most impressive class rookie by some distance, in a year when many riders were pushed upwards to the rejuvenated 250cc category. Now he gets the chance to hear a MotoGP exhaust note from nearer its point of origin, and will indeed be in control of the volume himself. National minibike and Motocross Championships came early in the schoolboy career of Dovizioso, still only 19 now, but in winning the highly competitive Aprilia Challenge in his native land in 2000; he singled himself out as another of Italy’s endless stream of potential world championship runners. His title-winning 2004 season was a largely dominant one, as he took a start-to-finish lead in the series, often using his cool head to win races other riders looked more likely to secure at some stages. His 250cc rookie season may not have delivered a win quite yet, but as prizes go, a chance to ride a MotoGP missile is not a bad reward for a season of impressive effort, and an overall season podium finish in third. It was a second consecutive rookie season for another rider getting a sample of Honda MotoGP power soon, just not one who makes his way in the Grand Prix paddock currently. The two-stroke-background of 2003 European Champion Max Neukirchner may have made him an immediate prospect for a move to GPs sooner rather than later until Austrian sidecar legend Klaus Klaffenbock booked him for an adventure in World Supersport in 2004. He was an immediate smash hit, despite the fact that there were so many experienced riders in this class that it was impossible for him to win in his first year. Nonetheless, Neukirchner managed such a feat not in a single race per se, but he was awarded the ‘Rookie of the Year’ trophy for his superb showings and consistent points scoring in a class littered with much more experienced hard nuts and former champions. Just to underline his adeptness and versatility, it was not just his rookie WSS season; it was his first ever four-stroke season. Most riders would have stayed in the class another year to go for the win, but with loftier ambitions suddenly within his reach, Neukirchner and Klaffi Honda hopped up to the Superbike class the very next season. His rookie season in Superbike delivered him a podium in Australia at a real rider’s circuit and only a hand injury in the very next round compounded by an exponential increase in the numbers of riders capable of top fives by mid-season, prevented more measurable points progress. Such was the resurgence of the class this year, and his seven no scores, that Neukirchner did not quite get the top ten finish he desired. He did get something more valuable and long-lasting, however, immediate respect as a top Superbike rider, in a class with 30 regular participants, almost all of whom have much more experience than the 22-year-old German. Kyonari was due to test alongside Luthi, Dovizioso and Neukirchner at Valencia but was given the opportunity to race the RC211V at the GP on the preceding Sunday. Racing for the Camel Honda team (substituting for the injured Tory Bayliss) his ride delivered him 12th place. For Kiyonari it was a return to an updated version of the machine that he rode in the 2003 MotoGP season, following the untimely death of the late lamented Daijiro Kato, but for Luthi and Neukirchner it will be the first time they have ridden one of the most complete and accomplished race bikes ever built. Dovizioso, 125cc World Champion in 2004, will test the RCV for the second time. Competing in the British championship for the last two years, Kiyonari (23) is the most experienced four-stroke rider of the new wild bunch testing at Valencia, having sailed close to the championship win in the UK this year. While at Valencia the four trainee MotoGP Musketeers will be able to watch their young Honda compatriots take their first steps to preparing for their 2006 MotoGP campaign. Honda will go into the 2006 MotoGP series with their youngest line-up ever, no less than four riders in their early twenties have already signed to race RCVs next season. Marco Melandri and Nicky Hayden, who raced RC211Vs to second and third places, respectively, in the 2005 series, will be joined by young Spaniards Dani Pedrosa and Toni Elias in Honda teams. Hayden, 24, from Kentucky enters his fourth season aboard the 990cc V-5 250 plus horsepower four-stroke. The former AMA Superbike Champion scored his maiden GP victory at his ‘Home’ race at Laguna Seca this year and ended the season with four successive podium finishes, statistics that bode well for 2006. Team Gresini Honda has retained the considerable talents of Italian Marco Melandri for 2006. Melandri, a former 250cc champion, finished the 2005 Honda debut season with a flourish winning the final two grands prix of the season to secure his impressive second place in the championship. Melandri will be joined at Gresini Honda by 22-year old Toni Elias racing in the colours of new team sponsor Fortuna. Elias, like Melandri, has worked his way through torrid arena’s of 125 and 250cc grand prix racing to arrive at MotoGP level. Elias moves to Fortuna Honda after finishing 12th in his MotoGP debut season where he raced for the Tech 3 squad. Triple world champion Dani Pedrosa completes the quartet of young chargers. Dani makes his long awaited MotoGP debut in 2006 moving up to the senior category after successfully defending his 250cc World Championship. The talented young Spaniard also took the 125cc crown in 2003, all three title wins aboard Honda machines. In addition to these four 20-year old Australian Casey Stoner will test a Team Honda Pons RCV at Valencia in the hope of bringing his burgeoning talents to the MotoGP category. Stoner, who was runner up to Pedrosa in the 250 class this season, is a seven-time GP winner, twice at 125cc and five times at 250cc. Honda was in line to provide Kenny Roberts Junior with the chance to ride an RC211V at the Valencia test, in readiness for his father to take delivery of the engines which will allow the Team Roberts squad to continue in MotoGP. The concept is not new. Honda has already set a precedent in contemporary MotoGP competition in partnership with Moriwaki, having made engines available to them even this season. Unfortunately, Roberts’ injury will prevent him from sampling V-5 Honda power, but a new direction for Honda’s MotoGP journey looks to be set onto the ever-changing face of MotoGP compass. Profiles Thomas Luthi Switzerland. Team: Elit Honda Race number: 12 Machine: Honda RS250R. Date of birth: September 6, 1986. Birthplace: Oberdiesbach. First race: 1997 Pocket Bikes. First race win: 1997 Pocket Bikes. Grand prix debut: .2002. 125cc German Grand Prix Sachsenring. First grand prix win:.2005 125cc French Grand Prix Le Mans. Total grand prix wins: 4. Total podium places: 9 x 125cc World titles: 1 x 125cc in 2005. Honda RS125R. Career highlights Thomas Luthi.. 1997: 3rd Swiss Pocket Bike Championship. 1998: 2nd Swiss Pocket Bike Championship 1999:. Swiss Pocket Bike Champion 2000: Swiss Mini Bike Champion 2001: 6th ADAC Aprilia Cup 2002: 3rd 125cc German Championship – Honda 10th 125cc Spanish Championship 20th 125cc European Champiuonship 27th 125cc World Champiuonship 9th Portuguese Grand Prix. 2003: 15th 125cc World Champinship – Honda 2nd Grand Prix of Catalunya. 2004: 25th 125cc World Champinship – Honda 2005: 125cc World Champion – Honda 4 wins. Max Neukirchner – Germany Klaffi Honda Birth date: 20 April 1983 Birthplace: Thalheim bei Chemnitz, Germany. First race: 1999 First win: 1999 World Supersport debut: 2004 Spanish round at Valencia. World Superbike debut: 2005 Qatar round at Losail. Total podium places: 1. Career Highlights: 1999: German Championship 250cc, 4th at Brno 2000: 10th German Championship 250cc 2001: 5th German Championship 250cc 2002: 2nd German Championship 250cc 10th European Championship 250cc 2003: 3rd European Championship 250cc 2004: 9th World Supersport Championship 2005: World Superbike Championship, Klaffi Honda Team Andrea Dovizioso – Italy. Team: Kopron Scot Honda Race number: 34 Machine: Honda RS250RW. Date of birth: March 23, 1986. Birthplace: Forli, Italy. First race: 2000 Challenge Aprilia Misano. First race win: 2000 Challenge Aprilia Misano Grand prix debut: 2001 Italian Grand Prix Mugello. First grand prix win: 2004 South African Grand Prix Welkom. Total grand prix wins: 5 x 125cc – Honda. Total podium places: 20. 15 x 125cc 5 x 250cc Honda. World titles: 1 x 125cc 2004 – Honda RS125RW. Career highlights – Andrea Dovizioso. 2000: Winner Challenge Aprilia 2001: 125cc European Champion Aprilia 2001: 4th 125cc Italian Championship Aprilia 2002: 16th 125cc World Championship Honda 2003: 5th 125cc World Championship Honda 2004: 125cc World Champion Honda – 5 wins. 2005: 3rd 250cc World Championship Honda. Ryuichi ‘Kiyo San’ Kiyonari. Date of birth : September 19, 1982. Birthplace : Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture. Lives : Kumamoto, Kyushu Island. First race: 1987 Motocross at 5 years old First road race: 1995 Mini Bike racing. Total podium places British Superbike Championship: 17. Total wins British Superbike Championship: 12. Ryuichi Kiyonari Career highlights 1998: 125cc Japanese Championship 1999: 125cc Japanese Championship 2000: 20th All Japan 250cc Championship RS250R 2001: 16th All Japan 250cc Championship RS250R 2002: All Japan Champion FT600 Champion CBR600F 4 wins from 8 races (Supersport Class). 2003: 2nd Japanese round – World Supersport Championship race, Sugo. 2004: 3rd British Superbike Championship CBR1000RR 2005: 2nd British Superbike Championship CBR1000RR