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SBK, Honda crisis: Hayden and Bradl's Fireblade SP2 fails to fly

The new 17.1 engine debuts at Assen but is worse than the previous one, should HRC intervene?

SBK: Honda crisis: Hayden and Bradl's Fireblade SP2 fails to fly

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The great team launch in February, the new Red Bull livery, two riders of the caliber of Nicky Hayden and Stefan Bradl. Honda seemed to have everything it needed at the start of the season, perhaps not enough for the title but definitely able to create problems for Kawasaki and Ducati. Instead it took just one race to extinguish team Ten Kate's plans before they even got off the ground.

Yes, because already at Phillip Island it was clear that the team had taken a wrong turn. The new Fireblade SP2, which should have been a turning point, failed to meet with expectations.

An unpredictable bike, slow and difficult to handle, as if it were a wild horse. In Australia, Hayden and Bradl's faces showed a mixture of disappointment and bitterness, with their minds already looking ahead to Europe. The first weekend of the season saw them finish outside of the top ten, with the American even crashing.

The team was under no illusions after the Thai round at Chang, where Hayden managed to reach the top ten with a ninth and seventh place finish. The turning point should have come at Aragon,  but during the break there wasn't the time to take steps forward, in that the material was sent directly to Spain.

Those who expected a turnaround in Spain were left disappointed. The Motorland round brought nothing new for Ten Kate, and there seemed to be no end to the problems. Hayden's face seemed to go from disappointment to resignation. The American is in what appears to be an endless tunnel. As if that wasn't enough, there was also the Race 2 DNF.

Now the championship has reached Holland, hometurf for the Honda team. Expectations were high, with the debut of the new 17.1 engine, added to the fact that Nicky scored his first SBK podium at Assen in 2016. Things got off to an encouraging start, but the second session saw a total black-out for the Fireblade SP2. The American didn't even complete ten laps and there's anger in his eyes.

“The new engine is less competitive than the previous one – states the American– it's a disaster, we don't even know the reason for some of the problems and we're unable to carry out any development”. Nicky doesn't hold back and rightly so, because the talented rider dreamed of playing a starring role in this year's championship while instead he's forced to play the part of spectator.

Dietrich Mateschitz, Mr Red Bull, will definitely not be pleased to see "his” Honda unable to take flight. Up until now, the Austrian businessman won his best in F1, amazed us with Baumgartner's jump at 36,000 metres, but in Superbike he's still to make his mark.

So what does the Fireblade SP2 need in order to get its wings? Perhaps the support of the Honda Racing Corporation, involved from the Dakar right up to the MotoGP? In the world championship things weren't exactly easy at first but once the team reached Texas, Honda was able to get back on track, closing the American round with three bikes in the top five and Marquez scoring the first win of the season for Nakamoto prior to his retirement.

While in MotoGP the path is already clearly marked out, things are not so simple in Superbike. Time continues to pass though and the feeling is that 2017 may well be a year to forget.   

Translated by Heather Watson
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