New-look Hydrex Honda

The new-look Hydrex Honda team was unveiled this morning at their lavish new workshops in Guisborough.

Team owner Shaun Muir has pinned his and the team’s hopes of lifting the BSB title on Karl Harris and Stuart Easton while he has retained Guy Martin for the international road races.

While other teams talk of the recession or the credit crunch and have dramatically slashed budgets, Hydrex Honda appear to have dug even deeper, recently moving into a plush new workshop/headquarters and is in the final stages of preparing seven bikes for the new season.

Each BSB rider will get two superbikes (two of them brand new 2009 machines while the others are uprated 2008 bikes) while Martin has one bike for each of the three classes (superbike, supersport and superstock) and will run as a separate entity from the BSB set-up with his own crew and transport.

No expense has been spared with all four BSB bikes built to meet the new FIM superbike-spec rules and equipped with Pectel engine management systems (the team developed the system on one of James Ellison’s bikes last year).

Team owner Shaun Muir said: “We’ve been working away quietly in the winter, virtually off the radar but today is a statement of our intention to win this year’s BSB title. There’s no one on the grid we fear, no rider who can give us grief. We’re ready to race.”

Karl Harris has never looked so healthy or been so keen for the season to start. He said: “I’ve no excuses. I don’t need any. Look at the bikes I’ve got. I’ll want for nothing. The last five years of my career are forgotten. The new Karl Harris starts here!”

Muir reckons he’s expecting Harris to win races and be the team’s title contender while Easton’s aim should be podium finishes.

Easton said: “I’m in a dream position. I’ve got the best bike in BSB and Shaun’s saying podiums for me will be good.

“That’s great. After the seasons I’ve had recently, no one is expecting me to do anything anyway so I’ll come in under the radar and do my thing.”