World S u p e r b ik e Champio n ship
B y G ORDON RITCH IE
P HOT OS B y G OLD £, GOOSE
SUGO,JAPAN,APR.29
fF'J
iven the recent history of the
~ World Superb ike Cha mpionshi p
races a t S ugo . it was no surprise to
anyone that a local rider should wa lk
off wit h bot h race wins. After all , it
has been s ix ye a rs s ince a Western
rid e r won a Superbike race here.
Even the one or two World Superbike
regula rs who did manage it with in
tha t time sphere have been Japanese
in origin.
So , step forward Makoto Tamada ,
th e fastest J a p ane se rider in the e a st.
Today a t lea s l.
"I had a bad start to race one, s o I
a m no t surprised to find I was only
fourth after t h e first lap ," Tamada
said . "I was try ing to pass [Tro yj
Corser when he made a m istake , so I
could pass h im easily. After that , I
knew the gap by my p itboard and I
didn't have to push myself too much.
I stayed behind lzutsu in race two , no t
b e c au s e I was c hecki ng where to
pass him , but I wa nted to sta y behind
h im a nd e njoy rid ing w ith h im be c au s e I got tired of rid ing o n m y
ow n du rin g the first race . I knew I
could pass him any time, s o I de cided
to wait until 10 la ps to go. S ome people say we are fast on our own tracks,
6 MAY 9. 200 1 •
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