The French riders Pela Renet and Mathias Bellino, the Swede Joakim Ljunggren and Spaniard Oriol Mena, are signed with Husaberg who will be running as Husqvarna. Added to the Austrian brand could be the Australian Phillips, Seistola and Santolino. (all the CH Racing Husqvarna guys). No mention of Juha....ps Juha no-go for ISDE, on another note, Knighter no-go for ISDE as well
Knighter sez since he has his own team, it is cost prohibitive to go this year.(Spent a lot to go to WEC in S.Amer & Xgames)
As for Knighter, I know it ain't my cup of tea either but that HM Honda CRE F450R is pretty badass. Ahola kicked arse on them (as well others, they have nice world championship resume'). http://www.hmmoto.it/it/prodotti/CRE-F450R-13
Back in the day, Kevin Hines didn't turn his nose up at HM Honda CRE 2 strokes... He tried to import them!
I heard Honda US shut down that operation with a cease and desist order...... Last one of those I saw here was Kevin on his CRE250 at the 97 Tecate Enduro which he won, over some tough competition of Western states/world class riders. He is a nice guy and we spoke about the bike at length that day. If he could have had that line wide open here I'm sure those Honda based machines would have had a strong Enduro/XC resume' here as well. Los Ancianos has always been proud of their tough/tight (non) Western style layouts. And I for one am so happy for that.
Thanks for clearing that up( I had suspicion that was the case). I would also assume as usual for any race team that even the sponsored by HM, Jolly Racing/HM/Zanardo team extensively modifies the HM based custom Hondas to their own bullet proof race performance spec. Our Welshman crew member mentioned that his connections in UK had some DNF issues with their HM based machine and set about basically building their own enduro/xc special Hondas from OEM Honda bikes (for the sprint cup). PS I'm still a big fan of Big Dave. No matter what bike he's on and maybe more that he's on using a "privateer" special build machine (rather than the factory KTM specials he rode before) I hope Dave can get his program sorted and puts a little kick arse against the factory boys again. His extreme enduro techniques have really stepped up my game in the ugly stuff, just by watching his way of leveraging the machine over and through stuff.
It appears that Juha is going to retire. Apparently he is not willing to ride for the pay cut that the new Husky bosses are offering. David Knight is working with Paul Edmondson on his Honda ride. Not sure what the details are, but Paul has been running Honda in British offroad for a few years now.
Paul is managing Knighters team this year. It is a little "messy" here in the UK regarding HM Hondas. Derrick Edmondson ( Pauls Brother) was importing them, but Honda sued ! I'm not sure of the details but they are now dealing with Betas. David Knight is a legend ! But 2 years of injury has really took its toll. Running his own team has to pay, it is his job. Also he is disillusioned with the way the EWC is going. He believes it is not tough enough, and the tests are too MX based. Why the ACU (UK governing body) cant help pay the way for the riders for the ISDE is another huge issue, the GB team wont be the same without the big man !
"Also he is disillusioned with the way the EWC is going. He believes it is not tough enough, and the tests are too MX based." Paul fast eddy is also a legend that Ive had the pleasure of being roosted passed by in my Ammie racing "career" at least once at the Tecate HS in mexico Wow, me and my crew have been blasting about this issue for the last couple of years. Great to hear that a top tier guy is seeing the same. (add on enduro cross is going SX now and is turning into a jumpfest to clear obstacles instead of a ride fest to work through the course. if that aint the promoters than the track designers need to rethink the timing/gaps of the obstacles) Hey AMA is same over here all the guys are selling tees and doing promos to finance their trip to the ISDE even though they have to qualify. Check the French or Italian federations, I think they pay most or all the fees for the their teams.
Sort of interesting thread ... Myself, I have ~zero knowledge on this WEC racing other than what you guys write on this web site. But it sounds like, out with the old, in with the new ... And I can toss in "Time waits for no man" ... Honda stopping riders from a specific one of their bikes? There is a message in there somewhere .. --Easy to believe that its becoming a jump fest ...
