During the 1960's, Honda fielded a successful racing effort with their RC and CR series of motorcycles. It was capped off by a win at Daytona by Dick Mann on a CB750 in 1970. Throughout the 70's, Honda was content with a large share of motorcycle sales and had little interest in racing.

Then in 1980, the company decided to re-enter the racing arena and formed a team to develop a Superbike that could win races. This bike was based on the CB900F; however, the original motor was not large enough to take advantage of the 1025cc displacement limit the rules allowed. In Europe and Japan, Honda was also competing in endurance races with a motorcycle called the RS1000. It had a 1024cc motor that was similar to the 900F motor with 104 horsepower out of the box. More power than this would be needed to win. Vance & Hines Racing ported the cylinder heads and titanium connecting rods and valves were used. Much time and effort would eventually get 147 horsepower from this motor. To reduce engine width and thereby increase cornering clearance, the ignition was moved from the right end of the crankshaft to behind the right side of the cylinder block and was driven by a belt.

The rules required that a production based frame be used. Honda used lightweight chrome-moly tubing instead of the mild steel of the original. The head angle was changed to quicken the steering, and the frame was built with sloppy welds to emulate the stock frame and hide its race shop origin. A sixteen-inch front wheel replaced the original nineteen-inch to further enhance the handling.

In spite of all the time and money spent on this effort, poor reliability would plague the team in the '80 and '81 seasons. For 1982, however, Honda was taking no chances. In the saddles would be Freddie Spencer, known as "Fast Freddie", Mike Baldwin, and Roberto Pietri. Extensive testing of both riders and machines at Laguna Seca, Willow Springs, and Daytona would ensure that this would be the time to win races.

The 1982 Daytona  Bell 100 Superbike race would be that win. Pietri would lead the first lap, then Baldwin would take over for a short time, with Spencer holding first place for the remainder of the race. Eddie Lawson on his Kawasaki would gamble and lose by trying to finish the race without the pit stop the rest of the field needed. He ran out of gas on the last lap but had no choice as he was out powered by the Hondas, falling behind at the rate of 3 seconds per lap.

Finishing one, two, three, was a corporate dream come true. Spencer won, followed by Baldwin and Pietri. As you can see, their ad agency loved it too.

Although the race was Honda's, the '82 Superbike Championship would again go to Eddie Lawson, as it had the previous year. Freddie Spencer would go on to win the Daytona Superbike race a total of four times in a row. In 1985, he would win all three classes at Daytona, along with the 250 and 500 World Championships.

I would like to thank Brian O'Shea for allowing me to photograph his motorcycles and share them with you, and for the valuable information provided for this site.

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