Pata Honda's Leon Haslam and Jonathan Rea on CBR1000RR Fireblade SP
Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam and Jonathan Rea on CBR1000RR Fireblade SP
Leon Haslam on CBR1000RR Fireblade SP
Jonathan Rea on Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade
2014 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SPFor their final ride of 2013, Pata Honda World Superbike’s Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam had some play time aboard the new 2014 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP at Losail circuit in Qatar.
Rea and Haslam joined many international motorcycle journalist at the track that hosts the opening round of 2014 MotoGP. The SP is a track-savvy version of the Fireblade, and includes front and rear adjustable Ohlins suspension, Brembo monoblock brakes, a blue-printed engine for enhanced performance and a single seat.The launch also allowed Rea and Haslam to become re-aquatinted with the circuit that returns to the 2014 World Superbike – a first time since 2009.Rea arrived at the launch from Australia, where he is spending the winter break.Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike CBR1000RR) says: “It was like ‘a-smile-a-mile’ and I had great fun with Leon, his dad Ron and my TT legend mate, John McGuinness. Sometimes I just think to myself: ‘I have the best job in the world!’”Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike CBR1000RR) says: “What a week! It was the best fun ever to ride around Losail with all the journalists on the Fireblade SP. It’s an awesome machine and the circuit lets you have a lot of fun, so I ended up doing about 300 laps, I think!”The 2014 World Superbike Championship features 14 rounds, and begins February 23 at Phillip Island in Australia.
This Podcast is also brought to you by the new modular helmet from Schuberth, the C5. The C5 blends safety with light weight and amazing quietness. Visit Schuberth.com for more information.
This week, in the first segment Editor Don Williams talks to us about the new Kawasaki Versys 650 LT. It’s the middleweight ADV style machine that uses the same 650 parallel twin motor as the Ninja 650, so it’s an excellent performer in a user-friendly, good looking package.
In the second segment, I chat with one of my dearest industry friends—now retired Honda PR executive, Jon Seidel. Jon’s fascinating career spans some 30 years with Big Red, and gave him some great experiences with some incredible machines. I was fortunate enough to be invited on many of the press launches that he organized. His new project is documenting and saving many of the old archives from years gone by—and incidentally, if you have anything that may be of value to the project, please contact us by email at producer@ultimatemotorcycling.com and we’ll pass it all on to Jon.
So on that note, from all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
