F IM World C hampion s h ip S u p erb ik e S e r ies
R o und 3 : S u go , ..J a p a n
, t wa s so mewha t pred icta b le th at a
local Japanese wild card rider
wo uld tr iumph at Sugo. After all , it
has al m o s t b e en the ir rig ht fo r th e
p a s t few years . Wh a t co u ld have
ha rdly been pred icted , however, was
tha t the s am e rider wou ld win with
the same level of ease in both races.
Espec ially a s tha t rider ha d n't wo n a
race in any class for ye a rs.
Step for ward Hitoyasu Izutsu , the
man who was sim ply un ~toppable on
h is Kawasak i , and e v e n C o lin
Edwards said so.
"I couldn 't stay with th e pa ce
toda y , ' was an honest admis s ion
from the potential World Champion
himself, who nonetheless leaves his
d e s ign ated test track lying second
be h ind th e as -yet consistently com petitive Noriyuki Haga .
Com pared to the p revious Ph illip
Island round's m adness and ma yhem ,
the World Superbike circ us must ha ve
18
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B y G ORD O N R IT CH IE
P HOTO S BY G O LD & G OOSE
suco, JAPAN, APR. 30
MAY 10, 2000'
cue
I
e
e
vv
s
be en loo k ing for ward to the rel ative
norma lity of th e Sugo ra c e - ev e n if
th a t norm al ity m e ans th at e ve n the
best of them struggle along to finish in
th e top 10 a m o ng s t th e local whiz
kids . It d idn 't tu rn out that wa y , as
the re wer e p len t y of upsets and
strangeness go ing on during the races .
With s lig htly le s s n um ber s of s u icidall y fast loca ls than in p revious
y e ars , s ome of the visitors mus t
ha ve ev en fancied th e ir c ha nc e s to
s core p o ints in Japan fo r th e first
t im e in years . Som e d id, but o thers
fell und er th e spell o f Lad y Luck 's
evil tw in,
Th e Ducati Sup erb ike t e a m will
have seldom e ndured as fruitless a nd
destr uct ive a weekend a s th e y had
here , with Carl Fogarty 's understudy ,
Tro y Bayliss, crash ing in race one
a nd taking o ut four ot her riders in the
ve ry first corner. O ne of those just so
happened to be his te mporary tea mmate Be n Bo stro m . With RC4 5 rider
Makoto Ta m a d a p e rfo rm ing a ra m
raid on Bayl iss 's rear end in ra ce two ,
spitting both of th em into the d irt and
