Northern Ireland duo Michael Laverty and Ian Lowry got to grips with their new 1000cc Honda Fireblades during a pre-season test at Cadwell Park on Thursday.

Laverty, who will ride for the official Honda Racing team alongside team-mate Jon Kirkham in the MCE British Superbike Championship and Lowry, whose team-mate in Clive Padgett’s BSB outfit is former World Supersport rider Luca Scassa, shared the Lincolnshire circuit after a scheduled test Snetterton earlier in the week was cancelled due to inclement weather.

Lowry, who endured a frustrating season in 2011 when he rode for several different teams, said he was extremely impressed following his first outing on the Honda.

“It has been an absolutely awesome day and I am really happy; the Hondas are second to none and from the first time we jumped on them this morning I was impressed,” he said.

“This is what I need for this season and I know that I will be able to ride it fast. This was our first shakedown so we weren’t pushing for lap times or anything like that but I am looking forward to our next test now next week. It was easier to ride than I expected and we already after one day have a good base setting that we can improve with now.

“We did stints of about eight laps and although it was cold in the morning it felt brilliant in the afternoon,” he added.

“The bike feels how I like it to be; I don’t mind it sliding but to be honest we didn’t really have a problem with that and we had good grip once the temperature improved.

“The engine is softer at the bottom so it is perfect really. All in all it has been a good start and it just felt good being back on a bike again after the long winter.”


Meanwhile Laverty, who switched to Honda after competing for Shaun Muir’s Swan Yamaha outfit last season, spent time adjusting to the different characteristics of the Fireblade after a full season on the YZF R1.

“It was a good first day for us, but it was what I had expected as first days out on track usually have a similar format. We were able to get the new electronics system dialled in and the team had a good base setting that they had worked on from a combination of what of ‘Shakey’ [Byrne] and ‘Kiyo’ [Ryuichi Kiyonari] had run last year. We have made some small changes to the chassis but we didn’t want to turn everything upside down just for the sake of it.

“The engine was easy to use at the spec to suit the new rule changes but the Honda does feel so different to the Yamaha I raced last year so it did take some laps to adapt,” he added.

“I have never relied on traction control before; I prefer to work off the throttle control - now you just have to be able to judge the slide better with the throttle. We have some ideas on how we can gain on corner entry and I think for everyone at the start of the test it is about going back to basics; once we get racing I think the changes will definitely shake things up this year.

“The team has done a great job with the new-spec engine so it has been a good start for us ahead of our next test.”

Reigning BSB champion Tommy Hill was lucky to walk away unscathed from a high-speed crash at Cartagena in Spain yesterday at the Pro-Test, which is organised annually by former Honda Britain and Norton team boss Barry Symmons.

His team-mate and World Superbike legend Noriyuki Haga, one of several high profile international recruits to BSB in 2012, was also on track as he rode the Swan Yamaha R1 for the first time in Spain.

The British Superbike Championship gets under way at Brands Hatch over the Easter weekend.