“It’s pretty fast,” said AMA veteran Larry Pegram when asked what he thought of his new Hotbodies Racing Honda CBR1000RR Superbike during CCS practice March 4 at Daytona International Speedway. Word around the Daytona paddock is that Pegram’s Honda, which is equipped with a full HRC-kitted, Mike Velasco-built engine, produces 200 horsepower. When asked if that was true, Pegram gave a confirming smile and said, “I heard that, but I don’t know if it’s true. It makes a lot more power than my bike did last year, that’s all I know.” Unlike his 2004 program, which came together a month before the season started, Pegram started talking to Honda late last year, about the same time that Hotbodies Racing owner Roger Davies also started conversations with American Honda. Once Pegram and Davies realized they were working toward the same goal, they merged their efforts and the Michelin-sponsored Hotbodies Racing TriangleCycles.com Honda team was born. Not only is Pegram happy with his new program, he is also happy with the results of a cutting-edge hip resurfacing procedure he had done during the off-season to repair range-of-motion-limiting damage he suffered to his left hip in a crash many years ago. “It’s top secret. It’s an HRC kit hip,” joked Pegram. “They call it hip resurfacing. It’s a new deal that’s still in clinical studies. They only do it on professional athletes and stuff. Basically, they popped it out, ground it down to smooth out the surface, put a titanium cap on the top end of my femur and a titanium insert into my pelvis. So now my hip joint is metal-on-metal. I have a lot more range of motion now, and it’s going to get better with stretching.” In addition to Pegram, the Hotbodies Racing TriangleCycles.com Honda team will also field Jeremy Toye on another HRC-kitted CBR1000RR, though Toye’s bike will be built by Phil Allison and will not have the full HRC engine kit until the round at Barber Motorsports Park in April. “Roger (Davies) mis-dialed the phone and got me instead, then he couldn’t backpedal out of it,” said Toye when asked how the deal with his new team came together. Toye pointed out that he had never ridden a CBR1000RR or on Michelin tires before, but said, “It’s not too shabby for a stock bike.”