Honda squad Dandelion scored its first victory in two years in last month's season finale at Suzuka, as rookie Kakunoshin Ota beat Liam Lawson to round off his first season on the top step of the podium.
But the first part of the season proved tough for the Kyoto-based outfit, as Makino failed to crack the top five until he scored a podium in the fifth round at Sugo, while Ota finished his first five races out of the points.
