American Honda pulls out of road racing

December 16, 2008

American Honda has withdrawn from road racing in 2009, putting the blame squarely on the current global economic situation.

Honda made its announcement in a media release last Friday, December 12, but made it clear that its factory involvement in supercross and motocross will continue.

The only rider affected is former world Superbike champion Neil Hodgson, with the Isle of Man resident recently setting the fastest time in a Dunlop tyre test at Dunlop.

Honda's plans were still up in the air at Daytona, but since then the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer has made a decision to sit out the 2009 season, leaving its road racing effort under the auspices of its two satellite teams - Erion Honda Racing and Corona Honda Racing.

Hodgson, who remains contracted to Honda in 2009 but is without a team, is shattered by the decision.

"I'm absolutely devastated, I'm obviously devastated. That goes without saying," Hodgson was quoted as saying on www.cyclenews.com. "I truly believe Honda have got the best road bike out there and the DMG (Daytona Motorsports Group) rules were working in our favour and I think we've got a real good chance at fighting for a championship and having a great, successful season.

"It's not a good situation. The world, when you hear about the recession and that lot, you kind of think it's not going to affect you personally, or you hope it's not going to, and it's surprising when it does. It's a bit of a shock."

While the motorcycle market in Australia continues to perform better than 2007 - the upcoming November figures will tell us whether that's still the case - America has been hit hard, with Honda, for one, suffering more than a 40 percent drop in year-on-year sales.

Honda also recently took the extraordinary decision to withdraw from F1 racing, saving itself millions of dollars in one hit.