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Honda’s MD250H takes a
blast around Broadford
Brodie Waters and I were both lucky enough
to have been invited by Honda and the MRRDA to attend their Junior Development
Day on Saturday 26 January at Broadford,
Victoria, for the purpose of
testing Honda’s newest addition to their family – the Moriwaki MD250H.
Although I had competed in last year’s
MRRDA series, until now I had actually never attended one of these come and
try days. The number of newcomers
who attended really indicated that the future of junior road-racing in Australia
is looking very bright.
Honda Australia had supplied a number
of CBR150s free-of-charge for the day, with the manufacturer’s National
Brand and Product Planning Manager, Phil Reynolds, as well as the factory’s
Race Team Manager, Paul Free, there to provide support and answer any
questions that would arise throughout the day.
California Superbike School (and MRRDA partner) provided training for those who were
contemplating entering the awesome world of road-racing. And with Woody and Motorcycling
Australia’s, Ross Martin, on-hand, the day had a really good mix of
industry representation.
From the 13-odd-tracks that I’ve ridden
on, Broadford wasn’t one of them. So
when I was asked if I wanted to participate in the race school on the
CBR150, I lunged at the opportunity.
My plan was to cut laps on the 150 and, continuously slice lap times
on the 250.
At around 10.30am my right thumb hit
the MD250’s engine defibrillator (start button) and the circuit again came
alive to the sound of a high-revving 250cc 4-banger. A logical next step progression from the Honda
CBR150, I’ve been itching to have a rip on the Moriwaki for a very long
time.
In the cockpit it felt very much like
its half-brother, the well-known RS125.
Light-weight with slim ergonomics, it definitely felt nimble. And the electronic start button certainly
made firing the 250cc 4-stroke into life as easy as hell.
From a handling perspective, I felt
that corner entry was sensational, as was mid-corner handling. The bike demonstrated ability to generate
serious elbow-scraping lean angle. Although,
at times, I must admit I did struggle keeping the front wheel grounded on
exit. Brodie confirmed my thoughts
after his stint saying, “The MD250H handles better than my 125.”
When you combine the brakes on this
bike with its engine’s compression braking, there’s massive amount of
one-finger stopping power available.
The thumper’s torquey power plant, not
surprisingly, was very user-friendly.
For a standard bike, its terminal speed too was quite impressive. Particularly if you consider the lap
record on a GP125 2-stroke stands at around the 1.00 mark, I recorded a 1.05
and Brodie dialled-in with a tidy 1.04.
With the right gearing and a fiddle
with the suspension (zero adjustments were made), it would be really
interesting to see what this baby can do - it’s definitely got plenty of
potential.
Thanks to all of those involved for
this awesome opportunity.
Charge hard,
Ryno # 119
www.RyanDymond.com
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