Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 44 NOVEMBER 4, 2014 P55 formance to thrill. After the initial fierce throttle response the Ten Kate-tuned Honda's power de- livery seems improbably refined and smooth in build-up with good over-rev at the top end even once the shifter light starts flashing. So by Supersport standards it seems nearly irrelevant which gear you throw at the TKR Hon- da, thanks to the improbably huge spread of strong, usable power. It seems really improba- ble that you're riding 'just' a 600, not a 750 or even bigger. That was a big factor in the CBR600RR's vivid acceleration out of the Assen chicane with the front wheel hovering above the tarmac. That's after using the Honda's great-action Tokico ra- dial monobloc brakes to haul the bike down from high speed, while the slipper clutch avoids any rear wheel chatter as you buzz the en- gine on the overrun. Then you fire the little 600 out of there, and the wide-open race- pattern power-shifter delivers seamless drive on the run past the pits. Shifting up when the en- gine seems to want to means you won't always see that red light flashing on the dash as a wakeup call to shift. You'll essentially be short-shifting much of the time, up a gear when the engine feels it wants to rather than waiting for the shifter light to start flashing. But as is always the case with Ten Kate's title-winning Super- sport racers, handling is the CBR600RR's really strong point, thanks a lot to its minimalist pro- portions that aren't however as minuscule by 600 Supersport standards as the even smaller, still revvier Yamaha R6. Indeed, the CBR600RR isn't as cramped or awkward-seeming for some- one of my height as you might expect, letting me tuck away be- hind the screen in a straight line. In spite of the short wheelbase and quite aggressive chassis geometry, its centralized mass makes the Honda's handling pre- dictable and agile, not at all ner- vous. Once you lay it into a turn, even while trailing braking, the Honda sticks inch-perfect to your chosen line, making your corner- ing speed faster thanks also to the reduction in engine braking. The small, light bike is so re- sponsive and agile that it's easy to make it do what it's told. Yet it feels balanced and predictable, not at all nervous to ride in spite and earning himself a promotion to the World Su- persport championship on a PATA Honda CBR600RR the following year. Amaz- ingly, he finished on the podium in his first very race in the ultra-compet- itive category at Phillip Island and ended his debut World Champion- ship season fourth in the championship, with two further visits to the rostrum in spite of a broken foot sustained mid-season. Along the way, he also became the first Dutch rider to win the Suzuka 8-hours race in his first ever race on a Superbike, teaming with Leon Haslam and Takumi Takahashi to win on a Honda CBR1000RR. The same team of riders repeated the achievement this season in a race run in atrocious conditions, and it was indeed Michael who put the decisive move on Suzuki's Randy de Puniet to take second place at around half race distance, then taking the lead which eventually built to more than a minute by the time his teammate Takahashi took the checkered flag. In due course, he wrapped up his first world title by winning the 2014 World Supersport Cham- pionship two races early, to become the first Dutch solo motorcycling World Champion in 40 years since Henk van Kessel's 50cc 'tiddler' world title on the Van Veen Kreidler in 1974. Now van der Mark will move up to World Su- perbike in 2015 with the PATA-sponsored Ten Kate Honda team, and that's just what he'll be doing next season with – you guessed it – a two-year contract. "I'm really, really happy with this next step," says van der Mark. "Going from Supersport to Superbike is going to be great – I'm really looking forward to it. The factory Honda Su- perbike I rode at Suzuka was pretty fast, but it was built to last eight hours, and I reckon the Ten Kate World Superbike is going to be even faster. I've had a great experience with this team for the last two years, and there was never really any question that I would be going anywhere else. World Superbikes in 2015 is going to be re- ally interesting – there are new technical regulations that should favor Honda, and I think there will be a few surprises next year. Although the electronics will be a big change for me, I have shown that I can ride a Superbike, and now I really can't wait to get started." continued from page 51

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