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HANNspree Ten Kate>>>> Ten Kate Honda boost for Africa

May 19 2009

Ten Kate Racing - Nieuwsbrief

Ten Kate Honda riders, Carlos Checa, Jonathan Rea and Ryuichi Kiyonari, gave young African riders some words of encouragement this weekend as the World Superbike championship returned to Kyalami in South Africa for the first time in seven years.

Honda South Africa is currently putting the finishing touches to a rider development programme in partnership with Kyalami’s local Gauteng government, Motorsport South Africa and the South African Motorcycle Racing Development Academy. The programme’s ultimate aim is to discover South Africa’s future motorcycling champions and Honda SA is planning to leave no stone unturned in its quest for potential riders.

The programme also includes a new series for 8-13-year-olds – the NSF100 Trophy, running HRC-produced single-cylinder four-stroke machines producing around 9bhp and capable of speeds up to 80-90kph.

Vaughan Swanepoel is responsible for the development programme, as well as product planning, public relations, events and motorsport in Honda SA’s motorcycle division. He visited Honda Italy last year where a similar race series is run with NSF100 machines.

“I went to see the last race of the season there,” he says, “and I was very impressed with the concept and its potential for South Africa. Fortunately, we have a new managing director here - Yoshiaki Nakamura – who used to work at Honda Italy and who also has a strong racing background. His support for the project has been invaluable.”

Honda SA ordered 34 machines from HRC in Japan – although it’s small, the NSF100 is a purpose-built racing motorcycle, with sticky tyres and adjustable suspension. Japan runs adults’, as well as children’s race series, and similar championships are run in Brazil and the US.

“The academy programme is being developed with four to five stages,” explains Swanepoel. “We’re going to go to schools to gauge levels of interest and run co-ordination tests, throwing balls around and riding bicycles through cones.

“But we need additional corporate sponsorship to help it happen,” he adds, “which is why the opportunity to have some kids running some demonstration laps at Kyalami this weekend is so important.”

After the bicycle tests, a group of potential academy students will be taken forward to ride CRF100 dirt bikes – “hopefully to get most of the crashing out of them!”, explains Swanepoel – followed by training on the NSF machines before a final selection of 34 children is made.

“Honda has a responsibility to motorsport in South Africa,” says Swanepoel, “because of its racing heritage. We’re celebrating 50 years of racing this year, and we have a 54% market share in South Africa. Without motorsport, there really is no Honda – and that applies as much here as in the rest of the world.”

HANNspree Ten Kate Honda is sponsored by Hotbodies Racing and uses our windscreens and bodywork on all of their bikes. Hotbodies Racing specializes in manufacturing high-performance parts for high-performance sportbikes, and is the North American distribution of KR Tuned performance parts. Hotbodies Racing is the market leader in Undertails, Huggers, Windscreens, Flush-Mount Signals, Megaphone Exhausts and full-race Bodywork. Hotbodies Racing supports the sport with sponsorship around the world and encourages dealer and distributor inquiries. For more information visit: www.HOTBODIESRACING.com.