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
Worl d E ndura n c e Cha m p io n s h ip R o und 4 : S u zuk a E ig h t Hou r t ra ck , and t h is tim e Ross i w a s th e o n t he track wh en Ya m akawa ' s sad The corner tha t g ave Ro ssi accide nt occ urre d . W hi le Suzuk a did th e lead - th e h airp in - n ow sn at ched not d i spl a y t he l a st s e c o n ds of v icti m . Fortu n at el y , Rossi wa s no t Yamakaw a ' s rid e o n th e m oni t ors , hu rt - few ever are w hen t he y c rash th ey d id sh ow t hat c o rner workers in there, sin ce it is th e sl o west point o n th e 130 R turn w ere a ct i ng fr ant ic t he race trac k - b ut th e left h andleb a r abo ut so m et hi ng , a nd th e st art /fin ish and footpeg were broken clean o ff t he flagg er had a red fl ag at the ready . it away . w orks Honda. Co rn er work ers helped In s t e ad , S u z u k a offi c i a ls dis - R o ss i g et th e b i k e ba ck on t w o - p at ched tw o Hond a NSX pa ce c ars o n wheel s and th e Italia n was in the p its th e tra ck . w ith in a co u p le m inutes of falling . " I l o s e th e fro n t - I d on 't kn o w wh y ," explained Ros si. " Sa me sp eed as the lap b ef ore, b ut I lo st th e front. " Rossi re -joi ned j ust in tim e t o be rn a rk ers we re now b ei ng fo und he re , t h e r e , a n d e ve ry w h ere a rou n d th e t rack . Edward s w as g etti ng through cleanl y until la p 16 , at wh ich t ime an X- F o r m u la bi k e c u t -off t h e Cast ro l Honda rid er and lzutsu scooted pa st. N ow Ta mada , a lo cal rider with a r ep uta t io n for w i p i ng th e floo r w it h fo r late r , and Edwards wa s out a not h - t h e bes t pa rt of so m e 2 0 se c o n d s be h in d an d w ondering how to make up t i m e lo st b y K ato ' s dec is io n t o er pos ition. All th is hu rry - up -an d -g o stuff g av e Yosh ikawa th e w o r r i e s . Th e H a g a start th e r a c e o n Dun lo p ' s h ard es t re a r ti re . U k aw a a nd Ka to w ould use t eamm at e wa s c irc ulati ng some fi v e secon ds off Haga 's q ua l ify i ng m ark and lo sin g time to th e leader s . The sli gh tl y softe r rear tires f rom th e sec o nd hour o nw a rd . It w as c le a r that Ro ssi wa s rid in g w i t h on l y o ne thin g o n h i s min d : pre ss ure s i m p ly go t t o Yo sh ika w a . On lap 16 Yo sh ik aw a gave the Yama ha too mu ch throttle at th e 130R co rner and th e bike bu cked t h e r id er off pass in g the only two bikes t h a t led him on th e t rac k. An attack on K it a gawa came at t he ent ra nc e to S poon o ve r the h an dl eb ars. " I had b een t ell in g m y se lf , 'W h at ever you do , don 't c ra s h, ' ยท sa id C u r v e , but K ita g a w a smell ed h im comi ng a nd tu rn ed into Rossi's lin e. The G P star h it t he b rakes to a void Yoshikawa. " B ut , after I got a good start I tried to push it too hard. During K ita g a w a and n e a rl y w ent o ff i n to Spoon Cu rve 's v ast gravel tr ap. the Suzuka E ight Hours w eek I w as also unable to get t im es as good a s Haqa., ev en th ough w e were riding th e " T h e Suzuki - K ita g aw a - c lose d th e lin e ve ry h ard , and I nearl y ta k e hi m, " said Ro ssi afte r t he race. " Very sa me machine." The Yamaha l imped t o the pits , was r epa i red in ab out a ha lf - an - h ou r , and re -j oined th e ra c e 59th of t he 6 7 bi k es still ru n n ing . Th e next tim e 'round E dwards n early c ras he d ." Rossi took th e lead o n lap 29 w hen t he two lead b ikes sl owed d own for b ac k m a r k er s at t he ha i rpin . B y the end of t he lap Ross i had .7 of a sec ond on Yanagawa . By t he end of la p 30 th e int erval wa s already up to 1.6 seconds, and Ro ssi lo o k ed set t o ride crank ed o n th e power down th e back straight to whoosh past Izutsu and Tamada . Edwards had more power at h is disposal to deal Ta mada 's la teb raking t hreats, and re -p ass ed when- off into th e pa le blue yon der . Yu k i o K a g a y am a c r a s h e d th e Eighth -pla ce Suzuki at t he 130R cor - e v e r t h e st rai ghts w ere cle a r. Th e qi v e - a n d- t a ke l a sted until Edwards f-itt ed on la p 24 . Tamada w as in t he pi ts the foll ow - n er o n l ap 31 , t h e sec o n d f ac to ry b ik e w it h i n a n h our c la im ed by t h e fast left t u rn foun d at th e end o f t he bac k stra ig ht . " I ha d been rid ing at a go od steady p a c e w h e n I w a s h it b y a n o t he r ing lap, a nd the t elev ision c am e ras g ave J ap an a cl ear v iew of w ha t g oes on in a pit st op when o ne h as te m porary help . D iffi c u lt ies lo ading a n ew fron t wh e e l w i t h f r es h ru b b e r f or Tamad a 's t ea mmate B arro s saw t he p it st op t ime cl imb up to 39 sec o nd s, m ach in e ," exp la i n ed K a g a y a m a . " I w as doing about 200 k p h ( 124 mp h ) at t he tim e, bu t lu c k il y I ma naged n ot to h urt m y sel f in th e fal l. " three t im e s t h e t im e th a t t h e well practiced fa ctory teams tak e. B ar ro s It o n ly to ok anothe r lap to p ro d uce j oined th e rac e in Ei ghth . m ore f a ctory -bike ca rnage o n th e cue I Howeve r , t h er e w ill a lw a y s be some r id e rs t hat suffe r f rom su c h a sp li t. K i t a g a w a ( S uz u k i) se c ond , Ross i ( Honda ) th ird , a n d U k aw a ( Hon da) fourth . T h e first th ree w er e covere d b y on e seco nd , w hile U k a w a lu r k ed A t the Casio T r ian gl e c hi ca ne, T arn a d a went in side and ' sa ved t he braking 1 6, 2 0 00' ea sier to ' cont ro l than one larg e on e. A fter th e f i r st rou nd of pit sto ps wer e c o m p lete d , t h e r a c e f ound Yanagawa ( K a w a sa k i ) i n the l e a d , fa ctory ri ders in t he A ll -J apan seri es, wa s m ak ing t ro uble for Ed wa rds, t oo . AUGUS T was p er the F IM rul ebo ok , ba sed on th e id ea that tw o sm a ll er g roups ar e IAb ove) Co li n Edwards (left) and Valentino Ross i (right) hop ed for a strong finish in t he eight hour, but two crashes forc ed them out of the event. (Rig ht) Ross i at speed on the Castrol Hond a RC5 1 " pri or to his cra sh. Li ttle bunches of b efu d dl ed b ac k - 18 Th e use of tw o pace c ars e n e _ s The factory teams tested at Suzuka right after the Laguna Seca World Superbike race. Stori es of mid -2:07 lap time s at the test were dropp ed in conversation as a matter of fact. The Eight Hour s qualifying record and the outright lap record, both in the 2:09 zone, looked certain to fall as even in free pract ice the good riders were posting 2:08s. For the fastest 20 teams in qualify ing, their starting position would be determined solely by the best tim e each rider recorded on just one tour of the race track on Saturday afternoon. Suzuka calls this the 'Special Stage.' Although Noriyuk i Haga highsided the Yamaha in night practice the previous evening. banging his left elbow and shoulder, he scorched the track in Special Stage at 2:07.836. This bettered the previous qualifying record of 2:09.210 set by Shinichi Ito in 1999. "A littl e bit mistake a third corner, and chicane, but tim e is good. I'm happy," said Haga. Kawasaki 's Hitoy asu Izutsu was the fastest rider in tim ed qualifying at 2:07 .942 , and was the last rider in the Special Stage. Izutsu was .02 1 of a second faster than Haga at the first interval, and .083 better at the second interval. However, a slight slip at the chicane and some rear-wheel spin driving to the finish line, found Izutsu .002 seconds behind Haga. The 2:07 lap times surprised the fans, but not the factory riders. What did surpri se factory riders and fans alike was an RC-45 based Honda satellite team ahead of the three RC-5 1 SPW works bikes with a time of 2:08.457. The RC-45 belonged to Makoto Tam ada and Alex Barros, last year's Eight Hours co-champion, but it was Tamada who was the quicke r of the two in Special Stage. "I'm very happy ," said Barros about his teammate. "I think Tamada made a very, very good job. 1think it surprised all HRC staff - the RC-45 is in front of the Vf' R, I was sure he was going to go fast, but not fast like this . It surprised me also." Tohru Ukawa was the fastest of all the factory RC-51s, and fourt h overall at 2:08.478 . "For sure , it' s not so good . I want to make 2:07.7 or 2:07 .8 or somethi ng ," said Ukawa . "In Dunlop corner I made a little bit mistake. But we are targeting tomorrow's race. I think this result is okay for the race." Ukawa's teammate Daij iro Kato crashed at the hairpin in Special Stage pract ice, but was unhurt . Kato's Special Stage tim e was 2:09.164. Fifth overall was Shinlchi Ito at 2:08 .772 , followed by Colin Edwards at 2:09.113. "It's funny. Superpole; I've never liked it," adm itted Edwards. "I' ve got along at the beginnin g of the year good with it, but I've never really liked it. It' s just a lot of risks for one lap. And the race is tomorrow. So I just went out there and put a decent lap in and did n't try to kill them. I just put a decent lap in." Edwards' teammate Valentino Rossi stopped the clock s at 2:09 .540. "New experience with Superpole, I never try ," said Rossi. ' So it is strange. I'm not very happy , the bike can go more fast. but the bik e is okay. This is important." Yukio Kagayama owned the fastest tim e in the Suzuki squad at 2:09 .117 . "I felt that machine feeling had changed when I rode it in the free session today . As the machine has been set for the final session then, I did not ride so hard. Our strategy was to never risk at the Special Stage, so I am quite happy to get the position ," The second factory Suzuki was Eighth on the grid . courtesy of Keiichi Kitagawa 's time of 2:09.290.