Ukawa and Edwards test Honda's 4-stroke

The second day of the Honda RC211V test was held in the same cloudy weather with intermittent rain showers as the opening day.

With Valentino Rossi, Shinichi Itoh and Manabu Kamada undertaking the first day of RCV testing yesterday, it was the turn of Repsol YPF Honda WGP 500 rider Tohru Ukawa to test the V-5 four-stroke machine today, August 8.

He had this to say, "The track conditions were not to good but I felt comfortable riding the machine. The RC211V is simply a fast machine and I felt the torque and power of the motorcycle. There are still many changes to be made after this test but with its high potential it is heading towards a positive outcome. I am looking forward to testing the machine in better conditions."

Reigning Superbike World Champion Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda), who had stayed on in Japan following his winning ride in the Suzuka 8 Hours, with Rossi, was a special guest at the test today. The American took the RC211V out for a few laps but the track conditions were not good at the time.

"I was curious about the machine but I didn't do many laps because of the conditions but it was interesting. The machine has good torque and power and I enjoyed riding it. But it's back to work for me now, in the Superbike Championship. I don't have time for anything else right now." commented Edwards.