Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Endurance Championship Round 4: 25th Coca-Cole Suzuke B Hours at Kato's advantage, sometimes by seven seconds a lap. It gave Edwards plenty to worry about. "If it really started raining I stayed dressed in my leathers," said Edwards, who watched events unfold with the team from the garage monitor. "I go reaJly good in the rain, and if it come down to it, we'd do a pit stop and - obviously it's up to the team - I'd be there to jump back on it, if needed. As it worked out, it just sprinkled a little bit. But it was heartpounding and way too much stress after three and a half hours of riding." Kato finally stabilized the situation with Tamada at 25 seconds. Barros, albeit further back, was fearless of the water. An experienced rain rider at Suzuka, Barros has ridden in the rain on slicks before and passed factory riders on rain tires. "I needed more raining," said Barros of his thoughts on the final hour of the race. "It not rain so hard, just a little bit. Many riders go very, very slow. I thought maybe it would rain for half an hour, or 40 minutes, and I would have some chance to go down on the [interval]. But the track come a little bit wet for just two laps. After the track came dry, I tried again to drop my lap time, but there are too many riders. I just tried to stay on the track." Barros made up time on Kato and BRIEFLY••• second S-corner. I go off the track, of course. Same situation, each session: last 10 laps, very big slide. It was very difficult." The final pit stops for first-place Edwards, second-place Okada, and third-place Takeda occurred on laps 189, 190, and 191 , respectively. The sun was providing a colorful goodbye on the western horizon, but 10 minutes later everyone was looking straight up. The dark clouds overhead were indeed rain clouds, and the track was getting damp from light sprinkles. Though the track was never truly wet with running water, Kato was on slicks and taking it easy. Kato's lap time on lap 196 was 2:10.899, 2:15.010 on lap 197, and then 2:20.624 on lap 198. Over the following seven laps, Kato's lap times were up and down between 2: 13.698 to 2:26.217, before finally settling down to sub-2: 14 from lap 206 to the end. Tamada was 53 seconds behind Kato when the rain started on lap 197. Tamada started chopping away Edwards and Kato hoist the winners' trophy" It's the third time that Edwards has won the 8 Hours, one short of Wayne Gardner's record" "Every session was about managing fuel consumption," said Edwards. "Keep the gap and maybe pulling a little bit, but don't do anything too crazy. If anything, I took too much caution, and it shows in my lap times here and there. They're not as fast as some of the others, but we had a lead and I just made sure I made to the pits in one piece." The Michelins on Edwards and Kato's Honda seemed to have a durability advantage over the Dunlops on the Okada/Tamada Honda, or so one would believe from listening to Okada. Reportedly, Tamada was sliding around on his rear Dunlop the last 10 laps of each session, and Okada nearly crashed in his last ride when the rear tire went off. "The final session for me I almost crashed. Big highside for me in the 32 AUGUST 21, 2002' cue I • n _ vv • Now just one 8 Hours win short of tying Wayne Gardner's record of four, is Colin Edwards keen to match or beat the record? "I wouldn't be disappointed if I never came back, - said Edwards while enjoying a beer at the post·race Honda party. "It's just getting to a point where it's really dangerous out there, compared to where it was four or five years ago. Now you've got slow guys on really fast bikes. You get balked in the comer and then they pull you down the straight. It gets to be a pain in the ass. Some of these guys you're passing with 50 mph in the comers. It's not how I would like to run the event. but they've got to nil the grid. Every year it gets more and more dangerous. At times, I do fear for my life. you know?" Colin Edwards' status as a rider for the 8 Hours was in doubt for some time prior to the race, due to Honda not listing him as an 'A' or 'B' rider when preliminary entries were announced in May. "Initially. I was supposed to be a reserve rider, because ITohruJ Ukawa was fit. But then he crashed at Donington and broke his toe and bruised his heel bone. From that point on, Honda said it was an 80 percent chance you're going to ride with Kato." Oddly. in these days of big-money. multi· clause contracts, Edwards claimed at Suzuka that his contract with Honda does not contain terms for the 8 Hours. "Basically, there are no terms. The terms are you get a lot of money if you win. If you come in second you get a boot in the ass." How much is the money? "It's a fair old chunk of money· a nice, round, even number, - said Edwards with a smile. Five years ago, Informed sources stated that a Suzuka 8 Hours win bonus was $250.000. One MotoGP race team director at Suzuka speculated that the nice, round, even number eluded to by Edwards was $500,000. Don't look for V.lentlno ....... to return to the 8 Hours any time soon. Uke Mick Doohan, Tamada hand over fist, once taking out 13 seconds in one lap. Barros made up over a minute, but the last 23 seconds to Tamada were too much. Barros fought the clock like a condemned man, oblivious to slower bikes. In fact, Barros readily admitted to running under one and forcing himself and the backmarker off the track on the final lap. "When it started to rain during the final session, I was anxious," said Kato. "I am really happy we won." "It was a bit boring at times, but the last hour made up for it," said a relieved Edwards. "All the excitement of the last hour, I was pissing in my pants. I'm standing there watching Kato, and it's raining. It was a pain in the ass, and I don't want to experience that again." And with that, a happy Colin Edwards and Daijiro Kato were off to the Honda party, and a few weeks of much-deserved rest before the warfare in World Superbike and MotoGP resumes. l:1li SuZllIuI Cirait SuZllIuI City, .I8pn Resalb: Aapst 4, 2002 FINAL: 1. C. Edwords/D. Koto (Hon); 2. M. T2Imada/T. Okada (Hon); 3. A. Berros/Y. Tekeda (Hon); 4. W. YoshikllwafT. Tsujimura (Yam); 5. N. Fuji.....era/T. Kayou (Yam); 6. O. Deguchi/H. Nod8 (Han); 7. S. Mertens/W. Nowlond (Su,); 8. B. Bonhuil/J. Jerman (Suz); 9. M. Toklnage/Y. Sllto (Yom); 10. A. Fergusson/J. Szoke (Suz). Wayne Gardner. and other stars of the previous generation of Grand Prix racers, Rossi now regards the 8 Hours as too risky. "We knew last year that he was done, he wouldn't come back. - said Edwards. -I don't blame him. It's so f*-ing dangerous. It's gotten to the point where it's not fun. like it used to be. It used to be a whole lot of guys here on facto· ry bikes. Our friends: GP guys, World Superbike guys. Now. realistically, it's only me and Barros. We're the only round eyes on the fac· tory stuff. It's Just a joke. I still want to win it, but you're passing guys and it feels like 50 mph over them. Unbelievable. It's okay to be ruthless in the race. and generally they're look· ing out for you then anyway. because blue flags are abundant. Un practicel you never see any blue flags, and the guys are just having a wank while they're going around the track.One would not expect Edwards to need a lot of practice on an RC-51 Superbike these days and could be tolerant of slower bikes in prac· tice. However. for the 8 Hours, riders generally have to search for new settings that compromise the needs of the two riders. This was especially difficu~ for Edwards, as his teammate Daijiro Kato was arguably the smallest rider in the race. "That's another thing that's kind of causing me a little trouble," Edwards said. "Thursday, we had the bike basically exactly like I would race it. I mean, set up perfect for me. He complained about the front, not being able to load tt enough. So we went to another setting that I've run - he tried something to keep the front down that I've run before, but I don't necessarily like it at this track, tt just push· es the front. Thursday. he said he liked a setup that he tried before, but I didn't like. So now we've gone halfway - and we both don't like It. I'm 15 kJlos [33 poundsl heavier than he is. so, obviously, I'm going to load the front. and his light ass isn't going to load tt. Basically, it's kJnd of in the middle right now where he can't load tt, and I'm loading it too much. It's right in the mid· die just enough to screw us both up. I mean, I understand - ahh, tt's okay, we're still going to win this thing. -

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