Honda World Motocross riders Evgeny Bobryshev and Max Nagl joined the wider Honda Racing family yesterday as a selection of elite riders from various disciplines took part in an Assessment Day at the English Institute of Sport – the organisation behind much of Team GB’s outstanding success at the London 2012 Olympics.
The impressive roll call also included: Pata Honda World Superbike ace Leon Haslam and his World Supersport team-mates Michael van der Mark and Lorenzo Zanetti; Honda’s 2014 road racing squad of 20-time Isle of Man TT winner John McGuinness and his new team-mate Conor Cummins; the new World Endurance Championship line-up of Freddy Foray, Julien Da Costa and Sebastien Gimbert; Gariboldi Honda MX2 star Tim Gajser and last-but-not-least, 2013 Enduro World Champion Alex Salvini.
The riders – who have eight world championship titles between them – took part in physio and isometric testing, strength and conditioning assessments and a fitness analysis, as well as a seminar on sleep patterns and strategies in relation to sporting performance. The data collected from each rider will be collated and used to form the basis of their training and fitness programmes for the 2014 racing season.
“It’s great for us to welcome the Honda riders to the English Institute of Sport,” said EIS Director of Operations Richard Parker. “Everything we do here is about maximising the performance of athletes and today provides an opportunity for us to assess the riders and see how we can give them some programmes to improve their performance on the bike in the coming year.”
As the riders departed at the end of the day, they were in high spirits. “We’ve done a lot of exercises and tests today,” said Bobryshev, “and I really enjoyed it. We had a good group of guys and I’d like to say thanks to everyone for organising this event. We have just started physical preparation for our season but it’s good to know where we can improve.”
Nagl was equally enthusiastic, saying: “It’s been a great day, and really interesting. I’ve learned some new stuff, and I look forward to getting some results back in the next week. Some of the tests were tough today, but I’m in pretty good shape and getting ready for the coming season.”
For more information on the English Institute of Sport visit www.eis2win.co.uk