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/128626
Wor ld End u r a n c e C h a mpions hip Round 4 : S u z u k a E ig h t H o u r By t o kee p th eir bi k e s r u n n i ng we ll eno ug h to m ak e it thro ug h a co uple sprint races with o ut blow ing up. To the fa m ily and frien ds of pr iva teer racer Mam oura Yamaka wa , th e m eani ng of the 20 0 0 Suzuka E igh t H ou r s is s i g n ifica ntly d ar k er . Yam a kawa w as fatall y in jured aft er runn ing stra ight off co urse at th e end of the back stra ight and im pa ctin g a ba rri er at an esti m ated ]40 mph (see Br iefl y .. .) . Yamak awa w as t he f irst fa tality in the 23 ye ars of th e Suzu k a Eigh t Hou rs. T o Suzuki rid e rs A k ira Ryo an d Keii ch i Kit agawa, th is year's Suzuk a Ei ght Hours was eac h rid er's best fin ish ever - seco nd . Incred ibly , it wa s S uzuk i ' s f i r st ti me on th e po d i um sin c e ] 988 , w hen K evi n Schw an t z and D ou g Pol en fi n ishe d second . In any other rac e, seco nd is better than nothing, but not here. For factory rid ers, the points fr om the hi gh er plac ings mean less than the paper th e results are printed on , sin c e the Suzuka Eigh t Hou rs does not figu re into a champions hip factory rid ers c ontest . And t he p r iz e money th at we nt t o secon d-plac ed Ry o and K it ag aw a , while g en erou s at $20 ,000, pa led in co m pa rison to the $2 00 ,0 00 given to Ukawa and K ato. T RA CY H A GEN P HOT OS BY G O LD & G OOS E SUZ UKA CITY, JAP AN, JULY 29·30 ~\. r» d o ub t a bo ut it , the 20 0 0 L7'b Suzuk a Eight Hou rs w ill m ean sign ifi cantl y d iffere nt thing s to different people. To T ohru Uk awa, th is yea r's Suzu k a Eight Hours mea nt becomi ng the first J apan ese rider to wi n the pr esti giou s rac e three t im es. T o D aijiro Kato, th e victo ry meant fini shed bu sines s. Ka to cras he d at t he fiv e-hou r p oin t l a st year wh i l e ru n n in g as a l eg it im at e conte nde r for the w in ; in ] 997 he qu ali fi ed o n pol e bu t crashed in th e hairp in aft er three hours; and in his debut ra c e in ] 9 9 4 he w as ru n nin g in th e lead pack in the firs t hour, crash ed and brok e his C· 7 vertebra e. You get th e id ea. "F inally I wo n Eight Hours rac e. I can 't beli eve it ," sai d Kato throug h an interp ret er. To th e em p l oyers of U k aw a an d Kato - Hon d a Racing Co rpora t io n their win , and new d ist anc e record of 2] 5 laps, me ant tha t th e ne w RC-5 ] V-twi n Superbik e has proven its m et tl e in the world's toughest roa d race. Other m anu facturers of V-tw in Super bikes o fte n ha ve all th ey ca n do just 16 A UGUST 16, 2000' eye I e n e vu s "T his is the thi rd yea r that I have teamed up wit h Kitagaw a -san an d we ha ve always been in the frame for a w in , so it is g o od t o get a podi um p o s i t i o n a t l a st , " sa i d Ry o . " I a m alrea dy lo oking forward to next year's ra c e whe n I wa nt to t ake one m ore st ep up the pod iu m ." " Wi thout Ryo I don 't thi nk th at I co uld have ac hieved thi s resu lt, " said K itagawa. " I have been tr yi ng for a po d iu m p o siti on h er e f o r ] 0 years and so th is is som eth ing of a dream fo r me . Now we have ano ther go al · th e to p position on the pod ium ." T o K awasaki riders T amaki Ser izawa and Pet er Godda rd , th ird plac e in t h i s ye ar ' s Suzu k a Eig h t H ours brou ght some co nso lat ion to Kawasaki afte r th e K a w as aki p ow erh o u se t eam of Ak ira Yanag awa and Hitoya su lzuts u dropped o ut . lzutsu crashed unhurt in th e seventh hour of the ra ce w h il e c h as i n g d o wn Ka t o 's q u i ck Honda RC-51. "T he Kawasak i is a good b ike to rid e an d it 's ver y de pe nd able ," said fo rm er W o rld En duran c e ch ampion God dar d. " I th ink, wi th so me m ore tim e o n it , we c ould have gon e faste r, but w hat w e g uys c o nc ent rat ed on wa s a good set- up for th e race , and w e ach ieved that because we could T he Suzuka Eight Hou r gets underway w ith its traditional Le Mans-style start and a holeshot f or Kawasaki rider Hitoyasu Izutsu. ru n con s t ant ti m e s . No t qui t e as qu ick as som e, but quick enoug h to be a lwa ys there, in c as e something happen s. I' ve do ne a lot of 24 hours, so an Eights ho urs is just a short one of those, and I feel as fit as a fi ddle and the bi ke was go ing gr eat. Maybe w ith m ore experience we co uld have pu sh ed a little hard er. We d id wh at we co uld do with what we had in the ti me we had." T o Yos h imu ra R&D , t h is ye a r ' s Su zu k a E i gh t H ours sh ow e d t hat t he X - For mula Suzu ki E i ght H a y a b u sa i s a p p roac h i n g Su pe r bi ke s p e e d. H a y abu s a r i d ers Osam u D eg uchi a n d Sh aw n Gi l es w o n t h e X - Fo rm u la cl ass f o r Yo sh imur a f or a seco n d st rai gh t year , and were sixth ov erall. T o Phase One Enduran c e rac ing , th is yea r's Suzu k a Eight Hours m eans seven W o r ld Ch am p ion ship po int s. Rid er s W arwi c k Nowla nd and Pet er Linden now own 77 po int s eac h and l e a d th e c h a m pi o n shi p aft er four ro und s. Th e Su zuki GSX -R750 t eam was the o n ly se r i o u s FIM World