Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez took time out of their busy Silverstone MotoGP schedule to visit Honda Europe’s HQ near London.
The PR duties of a modern MotoGP rider are not inconsiderable, and it’s probably fair to say that such duties are not always undertaken with unfettered enthusiasm and gusto.
However, that certainly wasn’t the case with Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez when they spent a few hours with fellow Honda associates at the company’s European headquarters in the UK, just ahead of the British GP at Silverstone.
The dynamic Spanish duo, who were first and second in the championship standings, were presented with a scaled-down version of the Silverstone circuit and some toys to play with.
The toys in question were not their regular Honda RC213V race machines but ¼-scale SkyRC Super Rider SR4 remote-control dirt bikes, 600mm long and packing quite a punch.
With an estimate maximum speed of more than 70kph (40mph), the bikes had to be restricted before battle commenced in order to limit potential damage, because the battle also involved relatively inexperienced Honda associates.
The opportunity to tell your grandchildren that you had once raced against Pedrosa or Marquez was taken up eagerly by staff, who entered a draw to have their names picked out of a Repsol Honda cap by Honda’s current MotoGP stars.
Six lucky winners got to pit their skills against the professionals in a pro-am challenge and it was no surprise that it was the diminutive Spaniards who came out on top.
Marquez, in particular, picked up the finesse and feather-like touch required to control the bikes almost as quickly as he has mastered his RC213V this season and, in no time at all, he was power-sliding the rear-end of his machine around the Honda car park.
In the end, it was Jason Kavanagh from Honda’s IT department who set the fastest lap of those undertaken by Honda associates. Luckily he went first because the amount of crash damage by the end of the event would have created quite a dent in HRC’s MotoGP budget.
Jason was presented with one of the Super Rider RC bikes by his team captain, Dani Pedrosa, but he wasn’t the only Honda associate who went home with a smile on their face that day.
Marc Marquez could have been forgiven for going home with a smile on his face from Silverstone. The MotoGP phenomenon set a stunning pole position on Saturday but crashed out in morning warm-up on Sunday, dislocating his shoulder.
Did it stop him battling it out with reigning MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo down to the final lap? Did it heck.
He finished a remarkable second, with team-mate Dani Pedrosa third to make it a double Repsol Honda podium.
Communication Honda Racing - www.hondaproracing.com