Honda has won 497 races since it recorded its first win in 1961 in the Road Race World Championship, now known as the MotoGP. This year, six riders from four teams will ride factory NSR500s in the 500cc class in a bid to regain the Riders' championship title. Honda will be represented in the 250cc class by two riders from one team, both mounted on NSR250s. The company has also developed an all-new MotoGP challenger, the RC211V, in preparation for revised regulations that will come into play in the 2002 season. This new machine, powered by a four-stroke V5 engine, will be active on racetracks throughout next year's championship.

500cc Class
1999 Series Champion Alex Criville (Spain) will race for REPSOL YPF HONDA in order to regain victory in this series championship that stands at the pinnacle of motorcycle racing. He will be joined by Tohru Ukawa (Japan), a new graduate from the 2500cc class in which he played a major role in the Honda 250cc squad for five years through the end of the 2000 season. Valentino Rossi (Italy) will renew his bid for the title by staying on to race with NASTRO AZZURRO Honda. Rossi won two events in his 500cc debut season, surprising the paddock by placing second overall.

Additionally, Alex Barros (Brazil) and Loris Capirossi (Italy), each of whom earned two victories in the 2000 season, will continue their challenges with Honda PONS. Barros ranked fourth overall last year, his teammate Capirossi seventh.

HARDWICK RACING, for which Tohru Ukawa raced last year, will field a new entrant in this class. Chris Walker (Great Britain), a participant in last year's British Superbike Championship, will ride one of the team's motorcycles in the MotoGP 500cc class.

250cc Class
Daijiro Kato (Japan), a young rider of outstanding ability who won no less than four races in his debut year, will participate in the 250cc class again this year. He will embark upon a new partnership with 1999's 125cc-class champion Emilio Alzamora (Spain) in TEAM TELEFONICA MOVISTAR Honda, which is owned by the legendary rider Fausto Gresini.

Excerpts from Honda statistics. Years marked ( - ) means no Honda participation in the indicated class. No class championships were held for the years marked ( * ). Honda temporarily halted its motorcycle racing activities for eleven years between 1968 and 1978.

As with last season, Honda will participate in the 2001 World Superbike Championship Series (WSB) with two VTR1000SPWs representing one team, this year to defend the title garnered in the previous season.

Colin Edwards (United States), who took the title by winning eight races on the VTR1000SPW developed specially for the 2000 season, will be doing his best to become a double champion. Joining him in Castrol Honda is Tadayuki Okada (Japan), known for his MotoGP participation as a Honda factory rider in REPSOL YPF HONDA.

Honda will enter a single CR250M in the Motocross World Championship Series, having won the 2000 title with a CR250R. The challenge will be taken up by double defending champion Frederic Bolley (France) of Pamo Racing, who will be riding toward extending his consecutive title-winning record to three.

One COTA315R (last year's winning machine) and one RTL will be entered in the 2001 Trial World Championship, a competition in which Honda remains the team to beat.

Dougie Lampkin (Great Britain), competing on the COTA315R, will defend his ongoing title streak tenaciously in hopes of extending it to a fifth consecutive season. Takahisa Fujinami (Japan), the runner-up for two years in a row, will ride the RTL with the aim of finishing in the top slot in the overall classification. Both riders will be serviced by MONTESA HRC.

In the domestic Japanese racing arena, Honda will be represented by Honda Racing Corporation, fielding machines in the Superbike class in the Road Race Championship Series, in the 250cc class in the Motocross Championship Series, and in the 250cc class in the Trial Championship Series.

In the Superbike class, Team CABIN HONDA will enter Makoto Tamada and Tatsuya Yamaguchi riding a pair of VTR1000SPW machines. Both riders and their supporting team are gearing up for a concerted effort to reclaim the title.

Two RC250Ms will be entered in the 250cc class by TEAM HRC, ridden by the formidable duo of Ryuichiro Takahama, the defending champion, and Yoshitaka Atsuta, who won out over all other competitors but his teammate.

TEAM HRC will also race an experimental four-stroke racing motocross machine, the CRF450R, which is being fielded for purely development purposes, offering an opportunity for Kazuyoshi Odagiri to take part in the series.

In the Japanese Trial Championship Series, where Honda has earned three consecutive titles, Takahisa Fujinami from TEAM HRC is determined to defend the company's honor for the fourth consecutive year. Given Fujinami's double entry in both domestic and international competitions, his racing season is sure to be a busy one.

In the Superbike class, American Honda will put Nickey Hayden (United States) and Miguel Duhamel (Canada) on the company's RC51s (VTR1000SPWs). To further strengthen the challenge from Honda, Erion Racing will enter Kurtis Roberts on an identical machine.

Ezra Lusk (United States) and Sebastien Tortelli (France), representing the American Honda team, will participate in the 250cc classes in the Supercross and National Motocross Series on CR250Rs. The team will also enter Ryan Hughes (United States) riding a CR250R in the 250cc class in the National Motocross Series, an event in which American Honda will also enter a four-stroke experimental motocross machine, the CRF450R.

Supersport World Championship Series
(held together with the Superbike World Championship Series)

In the Supersport World Championship Series, seven riders from four teams, including Alpha Technik Honda, BMK Honda, Castrol Honda, and Ten Kate Honda, will ride newly developed CBR600FSs.