Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

iI Scott Russell (left)and Aaron Slight (above) battled over the win for the final 45 minutes. Slight came out on top. World Superbike riders were correc t in sitting back . On the fifth lap, Tak eishi ran off th e tr ack at th e Spoon Cu rve while running fourth , d rop ping some 20 positions as he rejoined the race. Th e next to go was Nagai, wh o crashed the Yamaha at Dunlop Comer on the 12th lap while running fourth. Although the left handlebar was bent, Nagai managed to get the bike back to the pits for repairs. . Fortunatel y, fo r Naga i and th e Yamaha team, the red flag came out at the 3D-minute mark, basically negating Nagai's crash when scoring reverted to the previous lap. The cau se of the redflag was a burning motorc ycle on the race track, with its spilled oil bringing down six others, including Fujiwara, Ukawa and Kato, who went sliding into the fire. It marked the first time in the E! history of the race that a red-flag had been thrown. The race was restarted at 1:00 p.m. with a second Le Mans-style start taking place with ride rs grid ded as they were running on the 11th lap. Teams were also allowed to change riders and motorcycles at this point. The Fujiwara/ Yoshikawa Yamaha team opted to use their back-up motorcycle; Sadanori Uikita took over for Ukawa who was transported to the hospital with spinal-eord injuries; Nagai was able to start from fourth on the grid after repairing the Yamaha. Results would be determined by the total number of laps turned in from the first portion of the race and the second portion, making scoring difficult and keeping the results in doubt until the very end - causing grief for those trying to cover the race. Aok i was again fast from the start, but he was foll ow ed thi s time by th e Koba yashi/Vieir a team, Nagai, the Suzuki of Yanagawa/Stevens and the lwahashi/ Aoki team. Yoshikawa and Peter Goddard, meanwhile, got miser abl e st arts. Yoshikawa's bad da y got eve n wo rse when he crashed out of the race on the very next lap. At least early on, the second pa rt of the race was very much the same as the first. The Japa nese rid ers co n ti n ued th ei r sp ri n t-race s ty le at th e fro nt · w hile Ru ssell and Sli gh t fo llowed . By the seventh lap, Russell and Slight, who were teammates in taking the Kaw asaki to victory last year, started to up the pace, with Slight moving to fourth behind Aoki, Nagai and Takeishi. At this poin t, Russell was sixth. Thirty minutes int o the second part of the race, the first pit stops took place with the Aokis switching places and taking on tir es and gas in 14.1 second s. Twenty mi nutes later, N agai, Takeishi, Slight and Russell pitted , handing off to Lawson, Itoh, Polen and Rymer. Lawson was th e slowest to exi t as the tea m made s o me p re-load adjustm en ts to th e front fork, dropping them to fifth place. "I'm happy to have such a fast and strong partner," Rymer said later. " I' m heavier than Scott (Russell), so it was difficult to find a rear suspension setting. But it d idn 't turn out to be a problem . I enjoyed today and I'm looking forward to n ext year." Th e battle at the front was close, but Lawson was amongst them. Two hours and 45 minute s into the restart, Nobuatsu Aoki, the oldest of the three Aok i brothers , crashed out of the race and the team faced 30 minutes of repair before rejoining the race. At 6:25 p.m . Polen took over at the front, passing Rymer down the back straight, as the two started to pull away while clicking off two-minute, 12-second lap times. The lead Honda team pitted for the final time at 6:36 p.m., with Polen handing off to Slight for the final run to the flag. Three laps later, Rymer gave the Kawasaki to Russell and the race for victory was on. At this point, Slight led by only .386-of-a-second. The final 45 minu tes of the race were intense. Russell pushed very hard and it looked like it would be easy for him to catch Slight. Even into the dark, the pair w ere turning laps in the 2:13-range. With 15 minutes to go, Russell pa ssed Slight for the lead and it appeared that the Kiwi had succumbed to the pressure of his former teammate. Th is wa sn't so, however, as Slight fought back, finally taking the win by just .288-of-a-second . The supplementary regulations said that the red flag would be shown to the leader of the race at 7:30 p.m., with the final results bearing the finishing positions of the riders on the previous lap . All a little difficult to understand, but Slight was the winner nonetheless. 5! "Gas splas hed into my eyes on the last gas stop," Slight said. "I could hardly see for the first four laps." Altho ugh he 'd na rrowly bee n prevented from de fending his race w in from last year, Russell was pleased with the resu lt: "I did my best," the Georgian sai d . "But Slight was too fas t and too stable to catch . But I enjoyed the race, mu ch more than last yea r. This wa s a very good race." Most believe that the Suzuka 8-Hour was Lawson's final motorcycle race. "It 's be en a p re tty good day," the fou r-time Wor ld Cha mp ion said . "We we re lu cky to no t ge t injured in th is morning's crash. Nagai was trying very .hard and he's ridin g fast. He did a fantastic job today; he rode well and made up for my slow ti mes. My la p times wer e a bit off, but I did the best I could. Why? I don 't know - maybe the settings were a little rough for me, but I don't know. All I know is that it was a pretty good day ." When asked if he was going to return to Japan for the World Supe rbike round at Sugo, Lawson said: "This is enough. I race cars now. Thank you for your man y years of support. You 've always been behind us." £N Suzuka Circuit Suzuka, Japan Results: July 31,1994 QUALIFYING: 1. Sco tt Russell / Terry Rymer (2:11.924); 2. Shinichi llo h/ Shinya Ta kelsh i (2:12.614); 3. Do ug Pol en / Aa ro n Slig h t (2:12.831 ); 4 . N oriko Fujiwa ra / Wa tu r u Yosh ika wa (2:12.976); 5. Satosh i Tsujimoto/Daijiro Kato (2:13.411); 6. Akira Yana gawa/ Th omas Stevens (2:13.415); 7. Tak uma Aoki /Nob uatsu Aoki (2: 14.420); 8. Nia ll Mackenzi e /Sha w n Gil es (2:14.833); 9. Toma na ri Kinura /Yoshinobu Taka has hi (2:14.922); 10. Shunji Vats hishiro/Shuy. Arai (2:14.935); 11. Peter Goddard /Scott Doo han (2:14.983); 12. Kenj i Osaka /Kef]! Tam ura (2:14.996); 13. Eddie Lawson / Yas utomo Nagai (2:15.013); 14. Kenich iro Twah ashi / Haruchika Aoki (2:15.095); 15. Akira Ryo/Trevo r Jord an (2:15. 185 ); 16. Noriyu ki Haga /M asan ar i Hiraya ma (2:15.565); 17. Nichio lz umi / Hitoy'su lzutsu (2:15.744); 18. Yu kio Mu ku n i /M a koto Su zu k i (2:15 .783 ); 19. Hiros hi Maru yama /Jun Maed a (2:15.872); 20. Toshiya Kob aya sh i / Alex Vieira (2 :15 .895); 21. Tomohi ko Kaneyas u /Yoshi yu ki Ara kak i (2 :16.319); 22. Ak ira Shii na /Yoshif umi Ta kamiya (2:16 .657) ; 23. Masato Mogi / Tos hihar u Kawad a (2:16 .87 1); 24 . Yas u mori Kon do /Ka ts uy os hi Ta kahash i (2 :1 6.905 ); 25 . Koji Kitao / Tos h iy uk i Araka ki (2:17 .0n); 26 . Yas u masa Ha take yama /Yos hiyeru Konishi (2:17.105); 27. Hiro tada Ni s h ida / Ma n abu Ka ma d a (2:17.127); 28. Takes hi Ts uji mu ra /Tomom i Ma na ko (2 :17 .390); 29. Roy Leslie/Hidetos h i Doi (2 :17 .455 ); 30. Shi nc hiro Im a i/Mot oki Sa to (2:18 .183); 31. Shigenasa Miwa / Kyoichi Yosh ii (2:18.471); 32. Takat os hi Onishi/ Nick Hop k in s (2: 18 .593); 33 . Mits uo Saito / Ta kay os hi Yama moto (2:18.631); 34. Yoshihiro Ta ira / Shi nta rok Vagi (2:19.230): 35. Hiroshi Tsubak i/Yas uo Kamiyama (2:19. 30 6); 36. Sh in ichi ro Dura1Hiroyu ki Kikuchi (2:19.375) ; 37 . Ta keshi Har ad a /Masanor i Hanawa (2:19.841). SUZUKA 8·HOUR: I. Polen / Sli gh t (H a n ); 2 . Russell /Rymer (Kaw); 3. It oh / Ta kcishi (Ho n) ; 4. Lawson/ Nagai (Yam); S. Kitagawa/Tsuka moto (Kaw); 6. Yatsushi ro / Arai (Hon); 7. lwahashi / Aoki (Han); 8. Yanagawa /Stevens (Suz); 9. Kobayashi/ Vieira (Hon) ; 10. tzumi / lzu tsu (Kaw); 11. Mackenzie/ Giles (Suz); 12. Ryd / Jordan (Kaw); 13. Tsujimura / Manako (Hon); 14. Osaka / Tamura (Ha n); 15. Maru yama/Maeda (Hon); 16. Kumura/Takahashi (Kaw); 17. Goddard /Doohan (Suz); 18. Okada/Hikita (Ho n); 19. Kit.o/ Arakaki (Han); 20. Kuni ma tsu /Toland (Hon); 21. 5erika wa /Ota (Han); 22. Tai ra / Yagi (Han); 23 . Harada /Hanawa (Yam); 24. Onishi /Hopkins (y . m); 25. Senmyo /Haraguchl (Hon); 26. Nogi /Kawada (Yam ); 27. Kaneyasu /Sugai (Hon); 28. Tomish ige /Yam ada (Hon) ; 29 . To mita /Hyu ga (Han ); 30 . Na kata /Tanimura (Yam); 31. Su zu k i/ Ha yashi (Ya m); 32. Kom a tsu / Kawa se (S uz ); 33. Yamana ka /Totton (Ho n); 34. Shinjyo /Kubo ta (Ho n); 35. Sa it o / Yan a mot o (Ya m) ; 36 . Yama ka wa/ Hig as hi m ura (Ka w ); 37 . Aok i / Aoki (Hon ); 38 . Nagao /Honda (Due) ; 39. Su gesaw /lto (Kaw ); 40 . Dura / Kik.uchi (Yam); 41. f u kami/Takemi (Yam); 42. Miwa /Y oshei (Ho n); 43 . Tanaka/Shioza ki (Yam); 44 . Marimatsu/Kikugawa (Kaw); 45. Imai /Sato (Kaw) . Time: 6 hou rs, 52 min. , 49.056 sec. DisUnce: 183 laps, 666.303 miles. Av....g. Speed: % .695 mph. Margin of Vidory: 0.288 sec. Fastes' Lop: Scott Russell , 2:11.1 126/99.88 mph . Lap 5. ~ 27

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