Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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ROAD RACE Round 3 July 31, 2005 ~ FIM World Endurance Championship Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours FIM World Endurance Championship The Yukio Kagayamaled Yoshimura Suzuki m comes in for a uled pit stop e eight-hour race. around on slicks in hope that the rain would stop soon. Kagayama eventually came in when rivers started running across the track. "When it started raining, the team wanted me to come in," Kagayama said. "I hoped it was going to stop raining, and I made a gamble. We had already lost about a minute and a half or two minutes, and we needed to recover. After five laps, it was very dangerous and I give up. So I made a gamble, but it did not pay." Michelin's treaded tires shined in the rain. Tadayuki Okada, a two-time a Hours winner and Honda's team manager for the British Superbike Championship, slalomed through Suzuka with ease despite not riding race bikes anymore except for at the a Hours. Okada was making up time three to four seconds a lap as the jut-jaw Japanese rider moved up from 10th to fourth over laps S3 to 73. Okada's tires always seemed to have a little extra for him. Going around a backmarker at the second Degner Corner, the backmarker went wide, and Okada found 38 AUGUST 17, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS himself in a massive tankslapper with both legs dangling off the back. It looked a sure crash in the works, but the bike refused to fall. But Okada did fall a lap later in almost the same spot when he lost control on the brakes and took a spill, unhurt. "I just ride at aO-percent," Okada said. "I just lost concentration for one second, and I was down from a mistake from braking. Racing again was fun, and I felt a little bit younger today. But because of the crash, the race has no meaning." The rain played into the hands of Vermeulen as well, also using Michelin rain tires. Vermeulen moved up from ninth to fifth, riding more conservatively than Okada. "I wanted to push harder, but I didn't want to crash," Vermeulen said. "Okada passed me, and he was very fast. I was thinking of following him, which I didn't do. Then a few laps later, he crashed." The corner workers earned their keep on the day, as the time lost in sand traps became just as important as time lost in pit stops. The first non-Honda was the Castrol Suzuki, the current points leader in the World Endurance Championship, which finished seventh with 196 laps. The team fell twice, first with Keiichi Kitagawa and then with Frenchman Vincent Philippe. "It was a difficult, difficult day, because we had two crashes," Philippe said. "We also had a penalty because I rode too much. I rode two hours during the rain, and I had a small crash also. It was a difficult day, but it's okay. Next year." Kitagawa and Philippe left Japan with 74 points, 2a points over the secondplace team in the championship, Yamaha Austria Racing Team, which finished the a Hours in ninth. Going into the a Hours, the secondplace team in the World Endurance Championship was Bolliger Team Switzerland. They left with no points after rider Fred Moriera crashed and was taken to hospital to have his shoulder looked over. The early report from the hospital was that the injury was serious only to the championship fight. Another World Endurance team that had a horrible race but in its case still managed to pick up a few points was