Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I:) I:) n n I W orld E ndur a n c e C h a m p io n s h ip R o u n d 4: S u z u k a Eight Hou r e nd for lzutsu a nd Yanaga wa. Wh ile ta king one of th e righ t-h a nd turns in the e sses , with no bikes forcin g lzu ts u off-line. lzutsu tu c ked th e fron t wh eel. Izutsu was on h is rump , a nd the Kaw a sak i wa s s liding, then sparking , the n somersa ulting s pectacularly. "First Hon da is ve ry fast. Ka wa sa ki is a s low: said lzutsu , a ride r that. like Makoto Tarnada , slides both wheels in the turns . "I wa s a lwa y s thinking , 'push- ee, pu sh -ee, push -e e .' " lzu ts u d utifu lly p ushed hi s wre ck bac k a ro u nd to the p its . Yan a g aw a wa ited fully su ited up as the mech an ics wo rke d fur iousl y rep laci ng c ra s h d am a g e . Eventu a lly th e y fo un d tha t th e frame was be nt . and th e te a m ha d no o pt ion but to withdraw . "Of course I'm disa ppo inted , but this is racing : said a matter -of- fact Ya na gawa. "Everybod y mu st ta ke ris ks ." Th e fina l hour a nd a half a fte r lzut s u 's s hunt wa s unrema rkable . Uka wa an d Kato had two -and -a -h a lf minutes o n Ryo and Kita g awa , wh o , in tu rn , b ike going a gai n J 5 m inutes later and the team e ventually re -joined th e ra ce with a new c hai n a nd Cra far at t he contro ls in 29th pla ce . "T h e cha in br o k e : sa id Crafar righ t after the race, sc ra tc hi ng h is head . "Nah, it must ha ve ju m ped off th ey s ay broken c hai n but it must be J apanese -spe a k , eh? He somehow got it unta ngled a nd got it ba c k on a nd s o m e how rod e around . But it to ok like half a n ho ur." An ot h e r 45 laps would g o down wit h no c ha nge in the to p J 0 plac ing s , other that Ito and Kama da tak ing te nth o n lap J 37. Th en the fina l defining cra s h of the ra ce happen ed. Izuts u sta rte d hi s fourth tour of duty o n lap J 62 and imm edia tely started kn oc king a second off of th e lea ding Honda ' s advantage o n each trip a ro und th e track . By lap J 70. th e second -place Kawasak i wa s 34-s ec onds ba ck from the thu ndering RC5 J . a nd contin uing to ga in. Th e n e xt la p , ho we ve r . was t he 1 had tw o minu tes o n S e rizawa a n d Godd ard . Fourth p la ce wa s a no the r five mi nutes ba c k . He nc e everyo ne rod e th e fina l hour with a c oo l head . Th e c a rn ag e was fina lly o ve r, a nd no one comp la ine d a bo ut tha t. eN Suzuka Cin:uit Suzuka City, Japan Results : July 3D, 2000 OVERALl.: 1. Tohru Ukllwa!Oa ijiro Keto (Hem); 2. But I think the Eight Hours of Suzuka is an important event like Daytona. You know, in the world you have a couple of motorcycle events where it's ve ry impo rta nt to be at . I think Suzuka Eight BRIEFLY. •• Hou rs is one of the important eve nts o f the wo rld . " Forty-seven year-old M amoura Yamakawa lost his life when he crashed his X·Formula support class Kawasaki ZX·9R in the barrier outside of the fast 130R comer at the end of Suzuka's back straiqhteway. The crash happened on Yamakawa's 14th to ur of the circuit. the team's 32nd lap. Yamakawa raced in 11 previous Eig ht Hou r s . inc luding t he f ir st Eig ht Hou r s in 1978 . W itt eveen also gave the following statement regarding Aprilia's position on AMA Superbike racing . "I think it depends on the co mmerci al interests in the United St at es. I th ink . next year. or maybe in the future, we will also participate in the AM A champi· Bi g payoff: The 20,000 Yen that w e nt t o t h e w inn ing t e am equals $20 0 ,000 . No t ba d f or e ight -hou rs work . A k ira Ryo jK eiic hi Kitaga wa ($ uz); 3 .Ta m to twenty million ($200 ,000>. The rationale goes like this; in ultra-expensive Japan big ticket items are ofte n priced in terms of the number of 10.000 yen ($ 100> notes required. The old prize money was one thousand of the big bills. and for year 2000 Suzuka increased it to tw o tho usand big bills, At any rate , the Suzuka Eight Hours con- co me into it. The Japanese peop le just do any thing for yo u. They' ve looked after me with my hands. My hands are buggered, w e can do such a race . Japan is an impo rta nt mark et . of co ur se. tinues to offer the larges t purse in any fo rm o f mot o rcy cle rac ing . basically , I'm glad I' m not doing any riding tomorrow. " Aprilia enter the Eight Hours as a factory effort . - Last year we had an offe r fro m th e organizat io n for particip at ing . but w e are not 20 A UGUST 1 6, 2000 · e ye I e n eVIl's Ho ur s. it's a great race . Ther e ' s just so many con ditio ns t hat

• Cover