Okada wildcard fuels pneumatic valve engine speculation

Sunday, 18 May 2008

With veteran Japanese rider Tadayuki Okada set for a wildcard run at Mugello in round six, the reappearance of Honda´s pneumatic valve engine could be on the agenda.

The next round of the World Championship, the Gran Premio d´Italia Alice, will see experienced Japanese rider Tadayuki Okada making a guest appearance for the Repsol Honda team, but it has not yet been confirmed whether he will be riding with an updated RC212V featuring a pneumatic valve engine.

Honda introduced the pneumatic valve motor to their 800cc prototype during 07-08 winter testing, but went back to the drawing board at the beginning of the season went it became apparent that their standard spring valve engine was still more competitive.

Speculation has grown that Okada will test, or perhaps even race with, a Honda pneumatic valve engine in Italy, though HRC intend to clarify the situation this week.

For now, Repsol Honda Team Manager Kazuhiko Yamano told motogp.com, `At the next race in Mugello Okada will participate as a wild card. With regard to which type of bike he will use I´m not going to confirm right now. He is a rider with Grand Prix experience and he will try to get a good result.´

TAGS 2008