Suguru Kanazawa is President of HRC, he is also a director of Honda Motor Co and Senior Director of Honda R&D, Asaka. He offered a few opinions at a recent GP that he was keen to emphasise are his own, not the official policy of HRC. However, when a man with all those jobs goes on the record it is reasonable to assume that his views don't differ widely from those of any Japanese factory.

He characterised racing as a pyramid with MotoGP at the top and with Superbike and Supersport as the next levels. Superbike, he said, is 'quite important' but factories should not run works teams as costs have to be limited.

What Kanazawa-san wants is a return to the Japanese factories' non-aggression pact that saw them refrain from entering works teams in 1988 when the Championship started. "If some customers want to enter, we have to make CBR-RR race kit." As for the regulations, both the factories and the FIM have been making noises about lowering the technology of current Superbikes to get back to the original idea of the class, racing street bikes. Kanazawa-san says the MSMA will make an announcement but couldn't say when.

All the noises suggest that the factories want to go to regulations not a million miles from Super Production, which is effectively Supersport engine regulations plus free choice on wheels, brakes and tyres. Suzuki Gixxers to Super Production spec have been whupping full factory Superbikes in 24-hour racing with no problems so lap times shouldn't be too shabby. Some slight tweaks to the regs, as in British Superbike where replacement con-rods are allowed for safety reasons could be incorporated to keep everyone happy.

FireBlade versus R1 versus GSX-R1000 versus ZX-10 anyone?