Honda motorcycles are behind no less than five teams in this season’s British Superbike Championship with Australian Glen Richards of Team WFR Honda leading the way for Honda riders after four rounds.

Based in Yorkshire, the WFR Honda team race on CBR1000RR Fireblades.  The team are new this season to the BSB Evo Championship and have got off to a flying start.  Graeme Gowland, who made his Superbike debut in 2009, is the other WFR Honda team rider while Alex Lowes left the team in May after failing to agree on a new contract.

WFR Honda were formed from the Embassy Racing squad who were so successful in previous Supersport and Superstock 1000 Championships. While riding for the Embassy Racing Team Glen Richards won back to back championships in 2007 and 2008 and now, along with his new WFR Honda Team is keen to impress in the British Superbike championship.

But Honda does not only excel in superbike racing.  Along with its full range of motor cars it is also known for other vehicles from lawn mowers to quad bikes; and they are not just used for racing!

Philippa is a farmer in Oxfordshire and uses her Honda ATV to tend to a herd alpacas! A far cry from racing around a track but it is the first of four new film shorts to be shown as part of the ongoing Honda television sponsorship of Channel 4 documentaries during 2011.

The new mini-documentaries each focus on a real-life Honda owner who put their Honda vehicle to more obscure uses.

Each of the short films is like a mini-documentary created by Hollie Newton at Wieden + Kennedy (W+K) and includes a unique website link relating to its story allowing viewers to see extra content online.

Honda will also be using social media with Facebook and Twitter campaigns to accompany the TV sponsorship deal linking to an online hub at www.honda.co.uk/stories where the videos will be available in full along with articles and other interesting stories. There is also a competition in the ‘Take Part’ section of the website, where Honda owners can upload their own stories and photographs, explaining the unusual ways in which they use their own Honda products.

W+K, the company behind the films, will select their favourite story and make it into the final mini-documentary to be shown later in the year as part of the Channel 4 campaign.

Honda will continue to use the strap line ‘Documentaries on 4, sponsored by Honda’ throughout 2011 for these new films, which were first aired last week during the Cutting Edge documentary, ‘Bums, Boobs and Botox’.

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Loris Baz – Superstock 600 – 2008

Loris Baz has been appointed as the replacement rider for the injured Andrew Pitt at this weekends round of the British Superbike championship at Croft alongside Dan Linfoot.

Pitt broke his collarbone at the Brands Hatch round of the championship and now the Frenchman has been given the chance to get aboard the Motorpoint Yamaha teams YZF-R1 which he tested for the first time on Wednesday.

Team boss Rob McElnea said;

“We have a lot to look forward to this weekend at Croft, this is Dan’s local track and our bike should work very well. It is Loris’s first time at BSB and on a Superbike so we are all keen to get the weekend started.

This will be a baptism of fire for Loris, he knows the pace will be hot and he cannot wait to get on track. We want him to take things step by step and enjoy the whole experience. He tested yesterday at Mallory and put together a good performance. On the bike you would never imagine he is only 17 years-old so I am sure he will get a good welcome.”

Riders For Health 2010 – Auctioning Rossi's Helmet

The World Champion Darts player Andy Fordham along with AP Kawasaki Team Manager Alan Greig, are to launch a British Superbike Darts League for 2011 to raise funds for Riders For Health.

Fordham was spotted on the grid at the Brands Hatch round of the Superbike Championship alongside John Wainwright who was racing in the Metzeler National Superstock 600cc series.  The two met when Wainwright visited his local pub previously owned at the time by the darts player in his hometown.

Leon Haslam is also known to love the sport of darts and a match was held in the Alstare garage between the rider and Fordham.  Haslam reportedly beat Fordham before the pair began to throw darts at a picture of Max Biaggi that had been pinned to the board!

The darts league will be open to all riders and teams in the series with 100% of the nominal fee going directly to the Riders For Health fund.

Oulton Park

After cancellation of some of the races of the British and National Superbike championship the organisers have now rescheduled and the dates are as follows;

Round 6, British Superbike series, Race 2 at Knockhill will now take place on Saturday July 17th at the Snetterton circuit. The participants of that race are confined to those published on the Grid for Race 2 published at Knockhill on 4/7/2010.

National Superstock 600, Round 3 at Oulton Park will now run over the weekend of July 30/31st and August 1st at the Silverstone circuit, supporting the Superbike World Championship. The participants of that race are confined to those published on the Race 9 – Final Grid published at Oulton Park on 3/5/2010.  Round 5, Race 2 at Knockhill will now take place on July 17th at Snetterton. The participants of that race are confined to those published on the Race 3 and 10 – Final Grid published at Knockhill on 4/7/2010

British 125GP championship, Round 6 from Knockhill will now take place on Saturday 11th September at the Croft circuit.

The Henderson Harley Davidson XR1200 Trophy, Rounds 3 & 4 has now been incorporated into the event at Brands Hatch on the weekend of August 6/7/8 with the revised remaining rounds as follows;

Round 3 August 7th Brands Hatch GP

Round 4 August 8th Brands Hatch GP

Round 5 August 29th Cadwell Park

Round 6 August 30th Cadwell Park

Steve Plater – HM Plant Honda 2010

The current leader of the British Superstock championship Steve Plater, returned to hospital this week to undergo further tests following his accident at the practice session for the North West 200 in May.

The 41-year-old, was thought to have got off lightly with just a broken arm in the incident which saw him flying into the wall at Quarry Hill.  Steve lost the front end of his HM Plant Honda and ploughed into the wall at speed, he was attended to immediately by marshals and medics at the site and transferred to Coleraine hospital where he underwent a full medical examination.

It was thought that his head, main body and legs were fine and that he had suffered two clean breaks to the ulna and radius bones of his left arm.  The Englishman underwent surgery to have the bones pinned and plated but after complaining of further pain in his chest and shoulder he had further surgery to relieve the pressure on nerves to the arm.

It has now been discovered that Steve has also suffered damage to his neck and a break between the sixth and seventh vertebrae will need a further operation.

The Honda rider was operated on last week at a specialist hospital where a bone graft taken from his pelvis was used to realign and plate the vertebrae at the front before a second operation took place to realign the vertebrae from the back.

The operation is said to have gone well and Steve is reportedly getting back to form, he is expected to make a full recovery but will not be taking part in this years TT.