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
Endurance Championship team to pa rtake in the Eigh t Hours. "It went be tter tha n expected - we we re expecti ng 13 - l Sth." said Phase O ne En dura nc e te am m a na ge r Russell Benney. "It incre a se s our World Ch a mpi onship le ad a nothe r sev e n po ints. Our ma in com petitio n is not e ven here, so it was we ll worth it." T o Castrol Ho n d a riders C o lin Edwards and Valentino Rossi , after all th e hype and h ullabaloo about Rossi c o m ing to ride the Eight Hours , th is yea r's Suzuka Eight Ho urs meant dis appointment as both rider s fell in the ra c e . Ros si wa s unhurt but Edwa rd s a fte rwa rd co m p lai ne d o f a nasty heada che . sore ba ck and s hould e rs, a nd nauseousness, and thus the team withdrew. "We 've ju st be en unlu ck y , but there will always b e another tim e ," sa id an always -ch e ery Rossi. "I've e njo ye d the e ve nt but , lik e Colin , I am disappoi nt ed that we c o u ld no t get a resu lt for Honda ." (Above) Tohru Ukawa rides the winning Honda RC51 during one of his stints on the factory V-twin. Ukawa became the first Japanese rider to win the event three ti m e s. He teamed with fellow 250cc Grand Prix racer Daijiro Katoh. (Left) Second place went t o Suzuki's Ak ira Ryo a nd Keilchi K lt lgaw a . "It's a real shame be cause Valentino a nd m ys e lf could have won this race: said Edwards . Edw a rd s had a v alid boa st. as Edwards had led for 10 laps in the first hour and Rossi had led for two laps before he hit the ground in the second hour. The Edwards a nd Rossi pa iring wa s not the onl y factor y Honda team that fa iled to ha ve a si m p le race . Th e strong pairing of S hini c hi It o and T a d a yu ki Okada - two rid er s with a s um of fou r Eight Hou rs victo ries - d issolve d a n hour before the start whe n O kada crashed in m orn ing warm- up and ga ve himself a slight conc uss ion. Ito sol diered into the race with Honda test rider Ma na bu Ka mada , and Ito hit the dirt h imse lf in the race. The top "c usto me r" Ho nd a team of Makoto T a m a d a and Alex Barros. who embarrassed the factory RC-51 s in qualify ing with their ' 9 9 RC -45 , had a good run go ing in the ra ce un til a n a g g re ssive T a m a d a s ledded t he Honda through the dirt. T o T eam Yam ah a , this year's Suzuka Eight Hou rs wa s e xceptional ly fru strating . Alth ough th e ir World Supe rbike s uperstar Nori yuki Haga won the pole , Haga 's teammat e Waturu Yoshik awa crashed in the firs t hou r try ing to keep up with th e lead group he ad e d by Edwa rds . The sec ond Yamaha factor y team of S imon Crafa r and Takeishi Ts ujim ura loo ked headed for an easy top -five finish , but at mi d -ra c e , the drive cha in came off. across the sta rt/ fin is h line at the end of th e first lap, the compute rized timin g m on it o rs flash ed Izutsu, Yo sh ik a wa, Ryo , Atsush i Watanabe (S uzuki) , Tsujimura , Kato , Edw ards, Ito, Tamada , and Serizawa . Edwa rds was g ivin g his Honda fist fuls of thr ottl e to catch up, a nd overtook Kato on the se cond lap. Ryo overtook Yos hik awa o n t he bac k st raig ht befo re t h e ra c e wa s thr e e lap s old , wh ile lzu t su pulled away fro m t he fig ht for second place. Edwa rds ca ug ht and passed Watanabe on the bac k straight on lap four, a nd started loo k in g dow n o n to p of Yoshikawa . Watana be a nd Kato we re looki ng in, too , a nd jus t a second covered the top seven bikes after four laps. Edwards n u d g e d it arou n d Yosh ikaw a dow n t he fro nt strai ght a nd a round Ryo dow n th e back straight to own second. You did not need to b e Ei nstein to specu late where this was going .. . Edwa rds drove his Honda dragster pa st lzuts u on the fron t stra ight on lap six. lzutsu had to go around the tra ck s ix m or e tim e s t o find a wa y p ast Edward s. The wait e nded as the leaders started encounte ring the slowpo kes. O n lap 12, th e leaders found backm a rke rs in the esses packed on the tra c k like a Tokyo s ubway trai n , a nd Izut su sliced st ra ig ht th r ou gh . Edwar ds followe d lzuts u for two laps . Whe n th e ba ck st ra ight wa s c le a r, Edwa rds drove arou nd lzu ts u agai n , a nd the third through fifth place b ikes of Tamada , Ryo , a nd Yosh ikawa hurried on in behind lzut s u. RACE Over in Oki nawa lurked a typhoon that had team managers watching the weather re po rts duri ng the week . As mechanics le ft the garages around mid nig ht S aturd ay night a lig ht ra in sta rte d th at continue d until dawn . But soo n th e su n br o k e t h ro u g h th e mo rni n g c lo u d s and had eve ryo n e swea ting while just sta ndi ng in pla ce . Th e alw ays -entertain ing Le Mans sta rt counted down a t 11 :30 a .m . on th e dot. Kawasak i rider lzut s u c onve rte d his second position in th e row o f dia g o na lly pa rked b ikes to race leader by the first tu rn of the c o urse. Ya m a h a rider Yoshikawa t o ok th e #41 R7 past Izuts u com ing o ut o f Turn 2 . As the lead bu nch b lasted eye I .. n e _ s • A U G U ST 1 6. 2000 17