Due to the worldwide measures against the spread of Coronavirus, motorsport is currently experiencing unforeseen downtime.
In recent months, however, the JM Honda Racing workshop in Europe has been buzzing with activity.
Honda Pro Racing made a cool video about the brand new MXGP team and caught up with team boss Jacky Martens.
For the first time in its 26 years of existence, the team owned by former 500cc world motocross champion Martens will compete on non-European motorcycles.
In this segment, Sweden’s Martens talks about his new team, his cooperation with Honda, the switch to the MXGP class and his new riders Julien Lieber, Benoit Paturel and Artem Guryev.
For the record, the now 56-year-old Martens was 500cc motocross world champion in 1993, racing a Husqvarna to finish ahead of Sweden’s Jörgen Nilsson and Belgium’s Joel Smets. Martens finished runner-up in the 500cc class in 1994, behind Sweden’s Marcus Hansson and ahead of Smets.
It is interesting to note that Martens battled throughout that time with Kiwi brothers Darryll, Shayne and Damien King.
Darryll King finished sixth overall in the 1993 500cc world championships, then racing a Kawasaki.
In 1996, his younger brother Shayne King claimed the 500cc world title for himself, riding a KTM.
Words, photo and interview by friend of BikesportNZ.com, Tom Jacobs
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