‘It was the easiest bike I ever rode’

“The first time we tested the SP-1 was January 2000 at Phillip Island. The bike was straight out of the crate with an engine that had virtually no work done on it as we were planning to race the RC45 that year. I did a day on it after two days on the RC45 and I thought the twin was dog slow – terrible. I returned to the pits and told the mechanics exactly this, which is when they showed me my lap times! I was less than a second off the RC45 and not even breaking a sweat, which is when we realised that with a bit more power the SP-1 would be very good. The decision was made to race the SP-1 and retire the RC45 and I really started to look forward to the 2000 season.

“There was absolutely no comparison between the RC45 and SP-1 and I had to totally change my riding style. It was like a supersport bike, you just rolled it through the turns where the RC45 was a point and shoot. At that time twins were so much better and easier to ride as you didn’t have the electronics to help tame the power of a four, as soon as I rode the SP-1 it was obvious why the

Ducatis were dominating.

“We ended up winning the championship that year but the next year Michelin made a taller profile rear tyre and the bike suffered a lot from chatter. In response, Honda weakened the chassis a lot on the SP-2 compared to the SP-1 and we didn’t have chatter once all season in 2002. The SP-2 was the easiest bike I ever rode, really lovely, we never had to do anything to it, it just worked. I took the 2002 title and then moved to MotoGP in 2003 when Honda withdrew from WSB having made their point.”