Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

-- •... . . • Kaw a s aki 's Goddard wa s o ne who sa w h im s e lf go fro m 2 9 s e c onds behind to a 1:20 , and wa s ho t about th at after the ra ce. Godda rd was als o spitting fire over the inept dr iving of t he pace car pil ot, who n ea rly hi t Haga whe n he e ntered th e tra ck a nd th en pr oc eeded to drive five seconds a la p slowe r th an th e first pa c e ca r. "[The pace c a r dri ve r] is luc ky I'm not an Am e ric an be c a us e if I wo uld have ha d a pistol , I wou ld ha ve s ho t h im ," sna pped God da rd in the po st race pre s s confe rence. "The way he was driving th at pa c e car , he ne eds s ho oting . He 's c razy. He pulled o ut in fro nt of Ha ga a nd I, o nto t he t rack . Th e timing whe n t he pace car we nt into th e track was inc orre ct, be cau se they s plit the top bunc h , and I th ink tha t wa s ve ry, very ba d. "Ha ga a lm os t c ras hed in to th e ba ck of th e pa ce c a r. T he guy came o ut of the c hica ne a nd th en sla m med th e br ak e s o n . We were all right beh ind him . Ha g a a lmost e nded up on top of the pace car. I think so mebo dy s ho uld find that g uy and tell him to drive something e lse . It was so stupid, so s tup id . Ha g a ' s back whee l was in the air try ing to slow down!" Ha g a , 12 lap s do wn after Yos hikawa 's crash , but ridin g like a m an po ss e s s ed (he was then ho lding t he fa st e st lap of th e race at 2 :09.820 ), confirmed t ha t he h a d to di g deep to get him se lf out of tro ub le. "Pa c e ca r too s loooow, yeah" sa id Hag a , who th en lit up on the pace ca r driver in Ja pa -eng lish . " S id e -o , ka riza do ri got no ka n na, a h no , ch ica ne-o c ut-ee, voooot - yeah, ja c k knife ." Durin g th e pa c e- c ar peri od , Ho nda ride r Kamada m a de a brief stop in the pits for his mechani cs to look a t the cl utch . T he c lutc h s ta rted s lip p ing when Ito wa s out in th e first hour a nd wa s n o w wo rs e . De s pite th e pa c e ca rs , Kam ad a lost a lap fro m the time s pent for a djustments. Th e ot he r c o m p la in t a b o ut p a c e c a rs - th at th e y a llow some rider s to catc h u p a nd g et ba c k in th e ra c e was al s o h e ard a ft er th e ra c e. Kawas ak i' s Yanaga w a , th e r a c e leader aft er Rossi fe ll, saw his a dva nta g e o n third pla c e Uka wa red uc ed from 18 seconds pre -pac e car to 1.9 se c onds when th e tra ck went ba ck to g reen on lap 40. "Tha t tim e I th ink we had 20 -sec o nds g a p , but that's g o ne ," sig h e d Yanag awa . Uka wa was q uick to capita lize . On lap 42 , Uka wa ov e rha uled Kita ga wa o n t he back stra ight a nd s hot past Yanagawa at the c hicane . "That time I don't know Ukawa is coming ," explai ned Yanagawa . "That time , I do n't know if Ukawa is a second or th ird . My pit boa rd doesn 't say nothing . So I am really confused ." "So I'm ve ry luc ky ," sa id Uka wa . "May be 20, 30 seconds. Th e n pace ca r comi ng, so then gap a lmost noth - ing . Then I m ake some pos ition s . I'm a b it luck y." Uka wa was ind eed luc ky, a nd fa st. By th e t ime Ukaw a p itted to turn over rid ing ch or e s to Ka to o n la p 54 the team had ne arl y 12 seconds on Yana ga wa / lzutsu 's Ka wa sa ki. Tea m Ka wa s a ki made up a second o n the Ca bin-sponso red front Hond a in the pits . At the st art of th e th ird hou r Ta m a da c ra s he d in the essess, thre e la ps in to his second stint. Th e RC-4 5 wa s bad ly d ama ge d , sheddi ng parts as it s lid si deways ac ross th e g ravel. T a m ad a a n d b ik e hob bl e d ba c k to the pits fo r a on e -h ou r repair sess ion. T en laps la te r, the g ra ve l tra ps would clai m a not he r Hond a , t h is t im e Sh in ich i Ito over yo nder at De g ne r. Ito wo ul d drop fro m 11th pl a c e to 32nd a nd los e four la ps . "I wa s p u s h in g t o o h a rd whe n I c ras he d . I was luc ky I di d no t injure m yse lf," s aid Ito , winne r of th e 19 97 a nd '9 8 Su zu ka E igh t Hou rs . Iz u t s u took to the track at an incred ible rate. By la p 60 he was often getti ng an u no bstru cted view of peewee rider Kato a nd the red Honda . On la p 64 , Izuts u pulled right up alo ngside of Kat o in the esses , a wa rning . Come the chica ne , lzutsu wa s a head . Kat o us ed h is Hon da' s hor s e power e d ge to ta k e t he le a d back o n th e fron t st rai g ht jus t af te r the c h ic a ne . Izut s u latch ed on to Kato 's sea t cowl ing and he ld on to the Honda. lzuts u's next pass ing in itiative happ ened on the short chute between t he 13 0 R turn an d the chicane . Kato c hose the o uts ide way a rou nd a backmarker, a nd Izutsu flicked it to th e insi de , a nd Kato ha d to ta ke second . lzutsu tried s naking down the front stra ight to ra ttle Kat o , bu t Kat o kept his head dow n . T his tim e it onl y too k Kato two straig htaways to pass lzutsu instead of th e usu al o ne . Kat o sh ow e d Izu tsu th e w ay a ro und for the next two laps . Th e pai r wa s then held up on th e approach to Spoon Curve, courte sy of a few slow b ackmarkers . Izut su ch o s e to p a s s th em at th e b eginning o f Sp o on Curve and Kat o at th e e nd. That wis e decision by Izutsu put him a half-se c ond to the good. Kat o , r ich with h or s ep o we r , m ot or ed pa st Izu tsu o n th e b a ck stra ight in th e su bseq ue nt la p. lzutsu s u b miss ively foll owed Kato fo r t he ne xt fo u r laps . Th e le a d e rs we re in the m idst o f m or e ba c km a rke rs s ix laps la te r. lzut s u wa s now wobbling in the essess with his ne ar hou r-o ld rac e tire s , a nd th e Crafa r Yamaha ne eded more d ista nc e to pass than a normal backmark er. lzuts u got around these guys , o nly t o find th e tr a ck ch ok ed with s lo w ba ckmar kers at Degn e r. Izutsu had to take to the grass to avoid creating a c h a in- re a cti o n accide nt. He was luc ky not to c rash, to lose just a sec ond to Kat o . "I th in k he al most c ras he d, " sa id Yana ga wa who wa tc he d his tea m mate on televisio n. "He ra n off th e course. That tim e he was ve ry a ngry." Even thou gh lzutsu was tak ing the ha rd way a rou nd ba c km ar kers , Kato wasn 't getting away . O n th eir last tour to get he r be fore th e pit sto ps , Ka to owned just a qu arter- second on lzutsu , this a fter three hours of furiou s racing. Ukaw a m ounted th e Hond a on lap 82 a nd went to work. On the follow ing lap , he set the fastest lap to that po int in th e ra c e , 2 :09 .635 . Wh en Yan agawa hit th e track for his second s ti nt, h e wa s s ta rin g down the re ar tire of Uka wa 's spe ed y Honda. Ya n aga wa h e ld o n t o Uk aw a fo r five la ps , a nd th en de cid e d th at th e Hon da rider wa s nuts a nd wa s taking fa r too ma ny chance s with the ba c km ar kers . "Tha t tim e I was thi n king he was riding too mu ch pushing ," said Yanagawa . "Too mu c h. Too aggress ive , so he get a wa y." Ukawa was fearless . "Ye a h, a lot of traffic . Man y time , almost c ra s h. But it' s okay ." Ukawa ha d lo oked for ward to ra cing Yanagaw a, a nd was di s appoin ted t he co ntest was ove r q u tc kl y . "Ya nagawa is m y frie nd thi s is d ifficu lt s itua tion. Th e VTR is eye .... Ukawa (41 and Alex BarTOS (111 battle early on In the race. BarTOS and Makoto Tamada were putting in a strong effort on the team's RC45 until Tamada crashed. so fas t; it's e as y to ma ke a differ en ce . I m ake hard to pus h to m a ke a b ig ga p to Yanaga wa ." Th e la p c ha rt for the top 10 riders went unc ha nged for th e next 40 laps , except for th e Ca strol Hon da s m ove into 10 th o n lap 93, a nd th en ninth on la p 105. In a s pa n of 50 laps Ross i and Edwards had cut their deficit to the leader from n ine m inutes to less than seven minutes . A cha nce at th e pod ium was sta rting to look poss ible . That all ca me und on e o n lap 122, at c u rve 200R . Edwa rds lost th e front , s lid o n his ba ck, a nd c rie d e no ug h. T h e tra ck d o ctor o rde re d Edwa rds s t raig h t to h is hote l roo m , s ki p th e a nnua l Ho nd a pa rty on the way, a nd to ca ll if he s till had a he a da che a nd stomachache the next morn ing . It was Edwa rd s ' first cr ash in the S uzu ka Eigh t Hour. Four laps late r , th e fifth p lace Yamaha of Tsujimura a nd Crafar was o ut of the hunt also . Th ere demise was bro ught o n by a dr ive cha in that h a d jum p e d off th e sp rockets a n d a ngled itself up , Ts ujim ura had the n e vv s • AUGUST 16, 2000 19

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