Honda announced it is replacing KTM as the spec-bike supplier for the 2013 European Junior Cup. The youth racing series will use an all-new Honda sportbike to be revealed at the 2012 EICMA show in November, expected to be the CBR500 captured in spy photos.

The European Junior Cup is for young racers ages 14-19 and runs at select rounds of the World Superbike Championship. This season, the series used the KTM 690 Duke but when it was first introduced in 2011, the series used the Kawasaki Ninja 250. Ironically, it looks like the series will now use the CBR500 which would be Honda‘s response to the 250′s replacement, the Ninja 300.

The stakes for the 2013 European Junior Cup will be higher than in previous seasons. The winner of the 2013 Cup series will be awarded a spot on a Honda team in the 2014 UEM Superstock 600 European Championship, a stepping stone towards bigger and higher levels of racing. Continue Reading »