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MOTO2: American Honda Spotlight
USA vs. the world! American Honda is challenging the Moto2 stars at Indianapolis and SPEED.com has it covered.
Chris Martin  |  Posted August 18, 2010   Iowa City, IA
(Photo: American Honda)

The all-new Moto2 World Championship class has quickly established itself as one of the most brutally competitive racing series on the planet. With spec 600cc inline four Honda mills married to a wide range of prototype chassis, the racing has proven impossibly tight, unpredictable, and unforgiving.

SPEED Spotlight: Honda Moto2

A globe-hopping cartoon fight cloud brought to life, you almost have to question the sanity of anyone looking to not only join that scrap but openly lay out bold ambitions while doing so, but that's exactly the M.O. of American Honda.

Fielding a Moriwaki-framed MD600 fighter in a team managed by world champion Kevin Schwantz, crewed by multi-time AMA champions Erion Racing, and with one-time AMA Supersport champ and current World Superbike pilot Roger Hayden at the controls, the squad is a making a high-profile wild card entry into the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix on August 27-29.

Just how tough is it going to be? Consider that former MotoGP ace Alex de Angelis was less than 1.5 seconds off the pole at Catalunya but started from 30th on the grid. Or the case of Hector Faubel, who was less than a second off of first in qualifying at Le Mans, but only ranked 27th. And how about Jules Cluzel, the Le Mans race winner, who was less than a half-second back of pole at Jerez but still forced to start from the middle of Row 4? (And keep in mind that unlike MotoGP, Moto2 still retains a four rider per row grid stack.)

America's full-time Moto2 competitor Kenny Noyes understands all too well the rollercoastering fortune that has defined the new category. On pole one week and 33rd the next, Noyes has twice finished races inside the top ten only to be outside the top twenty at the next Grand Prix.

No, it's not going to be easy for Hayden and the American Honda effort, but they're aiming not to merely be somewhere in the mix but to actually set the bar in their one-off would-be conquest.

The effort has been a long time in the making and they've been putting in their time and doing their homework. Roger has already tested the MD600 at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway and Barber Motorsports Park, and according to a facebook status update from the Kentuckian posted just a few minutes ago, he's driving up to Indianapolis now for one last vital test to get a feel for the racetrack he'll be doing battle on next week -- a circuit new to him but familiar to most of his one-race rivals who largely boast GP backgrounds.

SPEED.com has set up a special spotlight page covering the unique effort. It already features a must see video documenting the program, a photo gallery of the red, white, and blue racer, and a series of stories covering the team and class to date.

Check it out (and continue to check back for the latest updates) at SPEED Spotlight: Honda Moto2
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