Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128391
LEAD HONDA SWEEP AT SUi!UKA FCC B team was meant to be a runner-up to the A team, led by Shinichi Ito, who tied Wayne Gardner for the most pole positions in the 8 Hours on Saturday. However, Ito's Honda was forced out for repairs to the electrical system after I 18 laps while in a solid second place. Masked Riders was the first of the front-runners to slip up in the rain when Yamaguchi tumbled off of Spoon Curve on lap 56 while in third place. The team lost five laps changing the fuel tank and other minor parts. Team Yoshihara started 21 st, the first team not to qualify for Saturday's one-lap Special Stage, and steadily worked its way forward by avoiding big mistakes. The race started under overcast skies in front of 72,000 spectators. Kyonari made the perfect getaway from the LeMans start to lead by a second into turn one. Takeshi Tsujimura, Ito's teammate, was second, followed by Kagayama on the Yoshimura Suzuki. The husky Kagayama drew alongside Tsujimura on the back straightaway to take second and move closer to Kyonari. Kyonari pulled away over the next two laps and opened up a 2.7-second lead. Kagayama then put in a burst of speed of his own, setting a race lap record of 2:09.849 and closing down the gap to 1.2 seconds by lap seven. The interval then stabilized over the next two laps but grew by a second a lap, as Kagayama had cooked his Dunlop tires. Kyonari pitted on lap 24, and Kagayama had the lead until he pitted on the follOWing lap. Then another Yoshimura Suzuka 8 Hours fairy tale came to an end. In a cruel twist of fate, the Yoshimura tri-oval muffler caught fire during the pit stop. Fire extinguishers were discharged and the muffler was qUickly replaced. When Yoshimua rider Atushi Watanabe rejoined the race, he was now the hunted. Ukawa could see Watanabe just around the corner and was keen to put the Yoshimura Suzuki a lap down. The second hour was processional as intervals gradually grew and the race looked to be another Honda 8 Hours. But the race completely changed at the start of the third hour when the skies started to slowly release the rain, one drop at a time, then building up into a rain shower. Kyonari, with a 30-second lead, was the first to pit for rain tires. Other teams scurried to the pits en masse on the following lap, with the exception of the thirdplaced Tatsuya Yamaguchi, who was digging himself out of the sand at Spoon Curve, and Kagayamaon the Yoshimura ~ Suzuki. Though Yoshimura called Kagayama into the pits, he ignored team orders. Knowing that Suzuka Circuit has good wetweather grip due to the pavement being like porous pumice stone, Kagayama decided to splash