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In Honda related news, kinda, IRL driver Danica Patrick has an interview in the upcoming June edition of Shape magazine, yes I do read Shape as a matter of fact and no this isnt a really far reach just to post a picture of Danica... Along with being on the cover the stunning, er I mean extremely talented Honda driver talks about her work out and having to be fit to drive the powerful Indy Car, -“I have to work harder than those bigger guys to control my car.” To maintain her strength-—not to mention her endurance for those five-hour races—Danica works out almost every day. - See the entire feature here, and more info on the Body by Jake page here, um, dont ask...

 
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Today the entire Internet was ablaze, ok, maybe not ablaze but almost every site known to man... ok, a BUNCH of sites were screaming, well at least proclaiming loudly the just announced sales numbers for April from Japan. For the first time ever the best selling car in Japan is a hybrid, and not just any hybrid, none other than our local favorite hybrid the Honda Insight! Over 10 thousand Insights sold in April over there, not bad for a great begining to the end of the riegn of those smug toyota boys! No, I dont hate toyota, well not all that much at least! More info can be found easily on nearly all of our friend site in the links section but the Honda World homepage has the spcifics here.

 

Those worlds being both the two and four wheeled variants! This weekend the World Super Bike series was in my home country and the two wheelers scorched the payments of the infamous Monza race track. Although it was a Ducati that was ultimately victorious, hey they WERE in Italy (!),  Honda rider Ryuichi Kiyonari brilliantly rode his Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR to double thrid place finishes and kept Honda agressivley in the running for the manufactures title in a strong third place after 5 of 14 races. Racing action included the series champ running out of fuel mere yards before the checkered flag and an upclose introduction of a bird to the front of a bike! Also on the track the Supersport Series had a Honda in 4th place, the Super Stock 1000 Series saw Honda come in 6th and the Super Stock 600 finished the day with a Honda in 5th. Honda continues to be the most consistant top finishing builder in the world. The complete Super Bike results can be seen over at SBK online. Last weekend the Moto GP Series was in Spain and after leading for over half the race Dani Pedrose finished a strong race witha very hard fought second. Of course the four wheeled fans are all getting ready for the mother of all races, nice way to include Mother on Mothers day huh (!), the Indy 500 which is next weekend. Helio Castroneves once again showed his strength behind the wheel with a pole qualifying run averaging 224.86, um thats Miles Per Hour!! Danika rounds out the top ten with her awesome 10th place run, the remaining places of the 33 car field will be set this week. Raceday is this Sunday May 24th. Keep up with Indy 500 stats here.


 

A couple of sites, Jalopnik and the Temple of VTEC to name two, are picking up on a story in the June edition of Japan's Mag-X about the much rumored and oft dreamed about resurrection of the small two bundle of driving joy known as the CRX! I personally have a special place in ma heart for that lil pocket rocket, a good friend had one way back in high school.... ahem, lets just say, good times, good times! I was so excited about the concept CR-Z (the new CRX) that I made it my mascot, look up!  Anyways, here is the gist of the article which is in Japanese so please dont hold me accountable for accuracy!
- 1.5L engine with both CVT and 6MT available.
- Monthly target sales : 850 JP, 2500 Europe, 1500 North America.
- Expect to see a production prototype in this year's Tokyo Motor Show.
- Expect an introduction in early 2010
Also in the article are some hints/rumors of future Honda plans for the Civic, expect new models in 2011 and some other cool items. More, albeit sketchy, info is over at the Temple of VTEC for your review.


 

Honda of Canada celebrated a huge milestone, or should I say 'millionstone' (!) with the production of its 5 millionth vehicle on April 28th. The Civic sedan "was presented by Honda President and CEO, Mr. Manabu Nishimae, to the Province of Ontario in a ceremony held at Queen’s Park. Honda opened its first plant in Canada way back in 1986 reinforcing the "company’s philosophy to build our products close to our customers". 5 million is a whole lotta vehicles, sounds like more than a few people have earned a Molsens eh?! Not while making Honda's though...
Official press release here.