YOSHIMURA SUZUKI TAKE 2ND AT SUZUKA
 Yoshimura
Suzuki with Denso's Daisaku Sakai and Atsushi Watanabe raced
their GSX-R1000 to second place at the Suzuka 8 Hour World
Endurance third round in Japan as last years winners Yoshimura
Suzuki with Jomo's Yukio Kagayama and Kousuke Akiyoshi finished
fourth after recovering from a crash.
The event was led from start to finish by Dream Honda Racing's
Ryuichi Kiyonari and Carlos Checa who finished with 214 laps,
the same number as the Yoshimura team as third place went
to Team HARC. Pro Honda four laps behind.
After three hours Honda led the #34 Yoshimura Suzuki of Kagayama
and Akiyoshi by a minute but the Suzuki men took a brief lead
following a sudden rainfall; Kagayama pulling a 10-second
lead on Checa.
But disaster stuck on the 91st lap when Kagayama hit a pool
of water in heavy rain and crashed heavily, ruining their
chance of victory.
Reigning World Champions SERT had a difficult race, but still
remain in the World Endurance Championship lead: In a team
knocked down to just two - after fastest rider Vincent Philippe
was injured in qualifying, Mathieu Lagrive and Julien Da Costa
finished in 14th place on 202 laps.
In the SST class, young Japanese rider Masahiro Sinjo was
drafted into the Qatar Endurance Racing Team, finished second
in class, and kept the team's championship lead intact.
Yukio Kagayama:
"I really thought we had a realistic chance to beat
Honda but then heavy rain began to fall. I was pushing hard
but within the safety margins and then I hit a large pool
of water and crashed. I feel sorry for my team mate and all
the Yoshimura and SMC staff that we didn't win."
Atsushi Watanabe:
We were fast and strong for 214 laps but could not quite
catch Honda. We had a good plan for the race but winning and
finishing is a big difference, but I'd like to win next year."
Suzuka 8 Hour Results:
1.DREAM Honda Racing Team 11 - R.KIYONARI/ C.CHECA - 214
laps
2.YOSHIMURA SUZUKI with DENSO - D.SAKAI/ A.WATANABE - 214
laps
3.Team HARC. pro Honda - Y.KONISHI/ T.TAKAHASHI - 210 laps
4.YOSHIMURA SUZUKI with JOMO - Y.KAGAYAMA/ K.AKIYOSHI - 209
laps
5.YAMAHA Racing - Y.SATO/ K.NAKASUGA/ Y.TAKEDA - 209 laps
6.MORIWAKI MOTUL Racing HONDA - T.YAMAGUCHI/ C.CRUTCHLOW/
J.OHALLORAN - 208 laps
7.PLOT FARO PANTHERA SUZUKI - Y.KONNO/ K.TERAMOTO - 207 laps
8.MotoMap SUPPLY SUZUKI - Y.HATANO/ H.OGATA/ T.NAMEKATA -
205 laps
9.Team SAKURAI HONDA 10 - C.KAMEYA/ L.HASLAM - 205 laps
10.Team SAKURAI HONDA 71 - K.TSUDA/ J.BROOKES - 204 laps
14. SUZUKI ENDURANCE RACING TEAM - J.DA COSTA /M.LAGRIVE -
202 laps
32.(2nd for STT Class) QATAR ENDURANCE RACING TEAM - ITJ MAL
NAIMI/ A.DELHALLE/ M.SHINJO - 194 laps
Report and photo: Hiro Nakamura
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