In the closing hour of the race, Barros
passed Ito to regain the lead lap for the
firs t time in seven hou rs and 158 laps.
Polen caug ht Russell and challenged the
Georgian for third, bu t eventually had
to pit to take o n fuel to co ve r the
remainin g laps .
Russell consid ered himself clea r for
third , but Ryo quietl y cre pt up and the
Yamaha team d idn't catch the threat in
tim e to wa rn him via the sig n boa rd .
Ryo flew pas t and pulled ahead by two
and a half seconds before Russell realized he'd been had. Russell responded
and reeled Ryo back , passing him on the
final lap . But Russell overshot the comer
at the end of the backstra ight and th e
la st two motorcycles s till o n th e rac e
cou rse came across the finish just a few
bike leng ths apa rt - advantage to Ryo.
It was further proof tha t on this day
in the Rising Su n and falling rain, for tune's firm favor ites were the Japanese
rid ers.
t::\
Briefl
(L eft) SCott Ru ssell protects Troy
Suz u ka Circuit
Suzuka City, Japan
Resul ts : July 27. 1997 (Round 3 014)
Corser from the
8 HOURS A NAL:
QUALIFYINC: 1. Yukhi Take-d alO,1ij iro Kate
(2:09.879); 2. Simon Cratar /Akin Y"l'Io1~wa (2.: 0.128);
1
3. Noriyuki Haga /Kl"nlluke Ha ga (2:10.142); 4. Wjltaru
Yos hi kA-a / N urihiko Fuji wa ra (1:10.302) ; 5. Akiu
Ky o /Sh in ya T.k. ~i ~ h i (2:10 .425) ; 6 . Tak u m i
Aoki / N u bua hu Auld (2 :10 .532); 1. KatA ua l i
Fu jiw ara /K rnouke "k i y o~h i (2 :10 .549); 8 . Tl"rry
Rymrr/ P ing io rg io Bontempi (2:10 .902); 9. Sh in ic h i
Ito /Tohru Uka wl! (2:10.617 ); 10. Ta dayu ki
Okad a I Aaron S lig h t (2: 11.030) : 11. Ht to ya su
- lz u ts u / ~b k o t o
Suzuk i (2:1 1.003 ); 12. Jo hn
KOCin ski/ A le x Barr o ll (2 :11 .04 8 ); 13 , To1mo1ki
Serizawo1/Y ostu tcru Koru~i (2:11.220): 14, Yoshinobu
Ta ka h a sh i /M ich io Izumi (2:12.2 13); IS . Takahi ro
Sowa /Sa to~ hi T8u jim o to (2:12.948); 16. Peter
God dard /DouK Pok-n (2:12.578): 17. Scott RusseUlTroy
Co rser (2 :12,293): 18, Kats u nort Ha~~awa /Naoto
Og u ra (2:12_
716); lQ, Noriyu ki Tsujimoto/Toshiyuki
Arakai (2:13.016); 20, }
-Luuc
.:hik.1 Aoki /\t,""'bu KamaJa
(2:13.13.118).
ANAL SUZUKA 8 HOURS RESULTS: 1. Shin ichi
Ito / Tohru Uka wa (HaN: 2. John Kociru;ki l Alex Barros
(Ho n); 3, Akiro1 Ryo / Shinyo1 To1keish i ( Kaw); 4, Scott
Ru sse ll /Troy Corser (Ya m); S, Pete r GodJ.a rd / Do u~
Po len (Suz); 6, TaJ ayu ki O kada I A.uon Slight (Han); 7.
Simon Cra(ar/ Ak lr. Yana gawd (Ka w) , 8 , Wat a r u
YO'lh ild wd /No ri h iko Fuj iwara (Ya m); 9 . Yu ich i
Takeda /Ulijiro Keto (Han); 10. Jt.a n-Ma rc IJre
'
lctang/ Jcan-
neYer~nding
rain.
(Bel ow) The t op Ihree teams celebrate.
w it h Sh ln lchl lto hol din g the huge
Suzuka I rop hy .
Ph ilipJh"
Rug~ia (Yam);
11. Tomohiko
KaTWY.a"iU /Yuoo Nukwni (lion); 12. Shin)'.
Nakatani/ Ryuji T~nJta (Kaw); 13, Takatoshi
Onishi lTo1ka..Ju MII"lOdo1 (Yam); 14, Takah.1nJ
Kishid o1 / Mo1So1 ki Toku no1 go1 (H on ): 15 .
Takaharu Kishida/~ki Toku na ga (Hon);
16. K.1tsunori ~w" /NaotoOgura (Yam);
17. NoriyulJ ~/~le HolgoJ e9in
Hours · 'which Is excit ing and coo l.' The co rrelation is verY strong , w~s suppos~ to dec~ase the cost of competing while ,increas-..·' to tell you' -how ·m'u'ch fun I had. " Bo st rom . said ,:.- It..was ·t he '
far the prand jmage and the event..~ COCa Cola plans to conti nue' jng intere~t in ,endurance ':CIcing. !his yt:!ar's , race sa vv 67 entri~::t .cooles t race, and 1loved riding In the rain. t My teammate) had 'us'
qilling tne .race as the Sprite Co o, .Suzuka 8 Hou'rs in ComIng ' CC?mpeting for th~ 66 star:ting positi~ns , -:~he ~st popul8r brtlnd, . up to 15th, and the~ ·1 ~ent out and I·tan us oUI of gas all the way
l
'.
':.
' ,"
,
' , a s always , -.yere. H onda s. , ~i t ~ 34 entr! 8S <3 1 A:C45,s. two
back al. Spoon Curve , J had to push the' bike
the 'way 'back' to
years:
.
.
:
. . . . . .. . .
. VTRH)?OFs. and one creaky old RC30 ). followed . by Yamaha at ·: (the pilS>. We fell back to I;ke 47th orsomething, then worked our
at
, Yamah8 's Cohn Edwards .11, Withdrew from the race on the .. 12 entn~s ( 11 .VZF?50s and, one JRX850>, Kawasaki_ 11 (eight ,way ,up to 30th. Then something broke', somethi ng mechanical.,
.
"
WeclnescfDy before the e~cnt: Edwards rode a.b?ut seven laps in . :z>:<-7RRs and three ZXR150 Rs), Suzuki 8.1 eight (aILGSXR750s ), '. and it put us ou t. It was a bummer." ,
'
practice that day, but found that the injuries from his Monza crash '. ' and 8 lo ne Ducati ,9 16 .·The promoters also allo we d a Handa ' "
were'n ot fullY healed. ~Coming to the track. I felt good , and J felt . Blackb ird. a Yamaha VZF1000. and Q Suzuki 1200,Bandit in ,the
Matt Wait was at Suzuka as a reserve rider.for_
pole-winriing
like " could do it."the Texan said . " But.once I get 6n the bike I
race as exhibition entrie s, The Yamaha VZF1000 was the highest
Hon'da team of Daijiro Kino
Yuichi 'ToKeda. -The regulations
knev¥' dlfferentl)< I got on the bike and I think I did a total ·of maybe
finisher among the special entri es, cOmpleting the race in 13th ': only allow ,two .rid~ per team -to take part ~n the race. and the
seve~ I~ps . f knew right ~ I: ~sn '~ right,. ~u knQ\N." ,Wh at '. ' ~ace_
.
.
,
'
aptly nam'ed W ait didn't get a' chance to ride' in the rac·e. although
wa.n t nght was that Edwards nght hand was still weak from Ihe
.
. ..
. . ·t I k d Ik h . . ht wi>
he
k
S d
..
.Monza "mcident. arid his left collarbone was not t OO ~rcent, due ' .·OF the tWo Honda VTR1000F Super Hawks in the race, the . ~T ok
°edae ;.:~e e r~llg had e~ u wo e ,up ton ndu ay ·mOr Olng.,
·
,n
u
.'
-,
.
."'"
.
.
a
U~ morning
a rea y bad throo a
gol a ca at a
.'
. . - .
".. :
.to ,t.he presence of pates 'and screws installed last year.. - ~t , one .ent~red by Moriwak! Engineering -was the tastiest. Howe ver,afl~ ",~e to Gel
here ,;a~"::k. ca:~ we m,ght
nod happened. I. guess, is that in· the proces s of the (righi> haOd ·it qualified a d;sappointing .22nd. wit h a time of 2:13.18 1. The ,t>ke
was a disappoint ing performer in the race ._stopping on course
you you re on stan
Since a . s . S IC '. _ guess,he
being broken, I started favoring the left . The first Few Iaps ~ I sta rt ed realty using the left . and i just strained it. and maybe tW(!~ mUltiple times: right from t!'le second lap. A team spoke~man. said . went t~ th~ Au doctor and go t 8 flu Sho! or sorrethl~g for hIS'
some muscles 8nd tendons in there: Then, after 8 F~ tapS:it got
the probl~m was the fuel pump, '
throat. ~~ IS feellngbetter. ~ut ~r a whde I wa~ getting pretty
'
.
.
.
.
.
excrted. .In reserve-nder qUQh~~g. ~alt was ~Ou~-quickest .~t
to where I coul dn't tum the bike, It hurt so bad. The,Japanese,
they Idnda' puJIed me to the side and asked 'me, .'Wha t do yo u' In the tire wars, D unlo p fed the way at '4 1 entries, followed by
2:1~ .190, The faste st reserve rtd: r w a.s Ll!~kY Strike S ~~uki s
think7Do you think it' s going to be possibreT I told them, .'Hoo.
M ichelin at 20 entries and B ridgestone v.ith five entries.
Yukio ~~ama, at 2: 1 4 .0~8:
es tty, I'm riot 90i~ to , be ' 100 percent I ~ prettY ,:",uch ,gu8rtln:.
.
•
..
..
.
tee thot .' You never know it '¥ts as bad, as it does until you get 'The' latest l? get involved i~ '~ Micheli~ vS. Duniop
~.r ' is _ AspiOng s~rbike r&eer and ~ime AMA c~titor S~v..
on. the bike.. ! feel perfect right now .C ing· in a Suzuka Circuit ..bas.k:etball's ~d~, D_
sitt
enni s Rodman . Dunlop sells car-win- .V l as b l o m w~s at Suzuka: agaln , s a reserve ~r or:' a p~ate
a
suite o n Friday afternoon), I fee' fine, But when I get on a bike, it's
dow shades in Japan , hat feature the snarling .Rodman v.ith Dun- · Honda.RC4 5 team; The .New Zea lander was ~eased !hat ~is st
t
a different story: ~ The collarbone inj~ is now the major cOncern. ' lop~s, corporate logo dyed into his hair, along With the w ord s.
lap ti me in th e dry , W8~, ~ 1!I high 20 . ~ Officially t he time wa s "
Every year Yamaha brings noted San Francisco doctor.Dr , Arthur "Get Dunlop...
·
2:2~ . 73_3 - 2 .8 second s better than Y lasblorn's 'best time fr~m .
Ting to the mee. ood Edwards was anxious' to have him examine
1~ of 2:32 ,551 -,and good enough to r ank-him 34th out of the '
th e collarbone X-rays take n Friday in Japan - which suggested
A commemora tive 2QO.page book on the Suzuka a .Hours. called
36 res erVe riders . V1asblom credited his im proved performance
that. the 'plate may:have cracked clean throug h_ " W e went and
- 8HOU RSX20YEARS: has gone on sale In' Japlln , Although the ,with .the p$easure of finally being on a bike with enough Power to
with.having a better mental image of the race
had the coI18rbone X-rayed . f'm not."" saying that (the p1ate· s)' bro-. text is to Japanese. the collection of color photograph s is every " pass people , and_
ken: I'm going to wait 'until Dr. Ting gets here. But from my point
bit as goad as ·those fOlind in the Mo tOcourse annual, Yet are dls- .track: Vlasblom did 'not race, althOugh he rec om'mendt!d to theof view. it 'Iooks Ii~e it's bro~en , - Edwards .wiUUkelynot race the , tine;tly diff erent than ·the· uSl:Jal race phOtography, ~ e price ,in
team manager that " If 'it rains. put
on the bike.· . ,
.
:.
....
'
_"
.
'.'
, . ,
'
'
,'
"
. '
"
race.
,
the
'new_
an
a
Ben
',:.
all
the
a
nd
.="'"
':"
by
tire
tx:
..
me
