Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Rumi Honda is considering racing a Honda CBR954RR in the 2003 World Superbike Championship. That’s the word from Roadracingworld.com’s European correspondent Glenn LeSanto.

Team owner Oscar Rumi has had discussions with Brit Mark Heckles to return to the team to ride a 954 next season, reports LeSanto. Heckles campaigned a Honda RC51 for Rumi Honda in 2002.

With only two true factory teams committed to the 2003 World Superbike Series(Infostrada Ducati and Foggy Petronas), private teams see this as a big opportunity to score podium finishes in races and to finish well in the Championship, results which could be parlayed into more support from sponsors.

According to LeSanto, Heckles describes the situation as “back to the future” because World Superbike started as being private-team-based, not factory-based.