Camel Honda

Camel Honda has been at the very forefront of grand prix motorcycle racing for 23 years. In that period it has won 27 grands prix in the 250, 500 and MotoGP classes and secured 98 podium finishes.

The first major success came when Sito Pons won the 250cc Spanish Championship in 1986. That same year he brought the team second place in the World 250cc Championship and just two years later became the first Spanish rider to win the 250cc World title.

He set the country alight by winning the Championship riding the team?s Honda machine, after a tremendous battle with countryman Juan Garriga. He retained the crown a year later and then switched to the prestigious 500cc class. Pons was lying fourth in the Championship when he crashed at the Yugoslavian Grand Prix and missed the remainder of the year through injury.

Pons retired from racing in 1992 to concentrate on running the team, which was renamed Team Honda Pons. Former 125cc World Champion Alex Criville was signed and he became the first Spanish rider to win a 500cc grand prix with an historic victory in Holland.

The team continued in the 500cc class and also rejoined the 250?s with Alberto Puig in 1993. The Spanish rider switched to the 500cc class the next year, finishing an impressive fifth in the Championship. He made a brilliant start the next year, winning the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez but a serious crash during qualifying for the French Grand Prix at Le Mans brought his season and ultimately his career to a sad end. Carlos Checa joined the team on a 250 but switched to replace the injured Puig.

The two Spanish riders rode for the team in the 500cc Championship in 1996 and Checa won the Catalunya Grand Prix in Barcelona in front of the King of Spain. The two riders continued the following year but Puig retired at the end of the season. He was replaced by World Superbike and former 250cc World Champion, American John Kocinski but it was Checa making all the headlines. He won the Madrid Grand Prix in Jarama, was seriously injured at the British Grand Prix but still finished fourth in the Championship.

Brazilian Alex Barros joined Spaniard Juan Borja in 1999 and a year later won both the Dutch and German Grands Prix on his way to fourth place in the Championship. His new team-mate in 2000 was former 125 and 250cc World Champion Loris Capirossi. Despite a season plagued by injury the Italian won the Italian Grand Prix and finished seventh in the title chase.

In 2001, brilliantly led by Capirossi and Barros the team were the most successful in the 500cc class. Riding the two-stroke NSR Hondas, Capirossi was third in the Championship, securing four pole positions and Barros was fourth, including victory in the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.

In the historic first four-stroke MotoGP season in 2002 both Barros and Capirossi fought furiously on the NSR-two strokes against the superior four-strokes. When the team obtained a four-stroke Honda for Barros to ride, the tide turned. The Brazilian won the Pacific and Valencia Grands Prix. He finished on the podium in the final four races and was fourth in the championship. Capirossi battled on, riding the two-stroke to finish a brave eighth, which included two third places.

Last year the newly named Camel Pramac Pons team had a new title sponsor and two new riders in former 250cc World Champion Max Biaggi and Japanese star Tohru Ukawa. Biaggi won two grands prix to finish third in the Championship with Ukawa eighth.

The team finished second in the World Team Championship. This year Biaggi remains with the team and is joined by the latest Japanese MotoGP star Makoto Tamada, a combination that has a great chance of bringing Sito Pons and his dedicated team a World title to add to the two won by their famous Team Manager.

Camel Honda - contact information

Barcelona, Spain
http://www.camelhonda.com

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