Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

In the Special Stage final qualifying event, Ito used one of Bridgestone's qualifying tires to revise the record book by bagging his sixth pole position and lifting him out of the tie for the most pole positions, which he shared with Wayne Gardner. Ito's flying lap time of 2:08.515 was nearly a half-second slower than his pole- position time from 2005, but good enough for 2006. "I was aiming for two minutes and seven seconds, but I couldn't do it," said the modest Bridgestone MotoGP tire tester. "I am not very happy with the lap because in the last section I did not do my best. Thus, I am not satisfied with the result. Tomorrow is much more impor- tant. The record for pole positions was not my goal." Fast on two wheels, 39-year-old Ito was not the fastest on two feet in the Le Mans-start footrace across the track. Ito's race nearly came to an end when his Honda zoomed out across the track and into the path of Kiyonari, who was on a cracking start. "I had a problem controlling my accel- eration," Ito said. "I felt really bad for the others, I did not do that on purpose." Kiyonari avoided the impetuous Ito and was first to turn one with a crowd behind him. Ito made it through in sec- ond, then Okada, and then Yasuda. As the leaders left the S-curves and headed into Dunlop Curve, Toshiyuki Arakaki lost control and his Suzuki slid up the track and into Shogo Moriwaki's Honda. The accident created a sickening dust ball as the two riders and two motorcycles slid across the gravel trap. Moriwaki was taken to the hospital for a possible neck injury. Kiyonari reached the start/finish line .9 of a second ahead of Ito. Okada was right on the rear wheel of Ito, while Yasuda was a half-second behind Okada. Okada was followed by the second FCC TSR bike ridden by Yusuke Teshima (Honda), Suzuki Castrol rider Vincent Philippe, and Yoshimura Suzuki rider Nobuatsu Aoki. There was no overtaking by the top seven riders over the next two laps, though riders were wringing the most of their engines and spinning their rear tires off the corners. On the fourth lap Aoki passed Philippe and Teshima to put the red Yoshimura in fifth place. Ito had Kiyonari down to a half-second lead, and Okada was still latched on the rear of Ito. Yasuda was now in the draft of Ito and Okada and six seconds clear of Aoki. The pace stayed steady at the 2:10 level over the next five laps. On lap 10, Kiyonari's paced slowed a second and Ito made a pass for the lead going into the Casio Triangle chicane. Ito led for two laps until Ito and Kiyonari came upon a big pack of mid- field riders at the two Degner Curves. Kiyonari and fellow Seven Star rider Okada both took advantage of Ito and dropped him back to third. "For the last three years Tsujimura started the race," explained Ito. "This time we wanted to try something differ- ent. By starting the race, the bike was set more to my liking, which made it eas- ier to control." Kiyonari and Okada led Ito over the next two laps. Ito reclaimed second in lap 15 and was now within .6 of a second of Kiyonari. On lap 16 Kiyonari startled Ito and the 73,000 spectators by pulling into the pits at the 35-minute point of the race. After a relatively lengthy stop for new tires and fuel, Kiyonari rejoined the race, three- quarters of a lap behind and in 14th place. "Suddenly the bike didn't feel right," said Kiyonari in the press conference. "After four laps I decided I should pit because my pace wasn't good. I could not decide on what to do. I realized that the bike couldn't go faster than what it was going and the bike was not as fast as I wanted, so I decided to pit. I decided it would be better to pit than to get into big trouble. That's the reason why I pitted." The problem with Kiyonari's motorcy- cle was either front-brake vibration (according to Honda's press release), or Kiyonari's decision to use a soft front tire (according to Tadayuki Okada). Kiyonari's move into the pits so star- tled Ito, that the new leader almost forgot about braking for turn one as he ques- tioned himself if he really saw Kiyonari leave the race while he sped down the front straight at 175 mph. Ito suspected that the Seven Stars' Hondas might be having trouble with their Michelin tires and decided it was time to try for a breakaway. Over the fol- lowing eight laps, Ito increased his lead on Okada from 2.5 seconds to 8.5 seconds. Ito and Okada both pitted on lap 24, 53 minutes after the start of the race. Yasuda picked up the lead, and when Aoki pitted on the following lap, Yasuda was in front and all alone, until he pitted on lap 26. "I did my best to stay with, but the top riders are very good and experienced rid- ers," said the bottle-blond Yasuda. "The tires were going off and I couldn't keep up with them. But then I found a pace that I could keep, so I kept that pace." By lap 28 everyone was back up to speed. Ito's teammate, Tsujimura, was in front of Yasuda's teammate, Konishi, by 13 seconds. Okada's teammate, Deguchi, was behind Konishi by 10 seconds, and Kiyonari was just three seconds from Deguchi. Aoki's teammate, Watanabe, was in fifth, six seconds behind Kiyonari. "I should have had a better first stint," said a regretful Aoki. "I should have pushed more. I was more focused on the race being an endurance for the long run. Now I regret that I did not push more in the first stint." It only took two laps for Kiyonari to pass Deguchi. But Kiyonari, now having ridden for well over an hour, could not gain ground on the fresh Tsujimura and Konishi. "When Kiyonari pitted I felt much more relaxed, like there was a chance for us," said Tsujimura. Kiyonari pitted on lap 34 and Tamada faced the tough task of reducing the one- and-a-half deficit to Tsujimura. Tsujimura and Konishi stymied Tamada by lapping faster than the MotoGP rider and putting Tamada a further 10 seconds behind by the time Tsujimura pitted on lap 52. It wasn't only Tsujimura and Konishi that was embarrassing the HRC-con- tract rider. Watanabe made up the 10 seconds on Deguchi and was ready to pass him going into the Casio Triangle on lap 47, but a group of backmarkers shut down the passing Suzuka Circuit Suzuka, Japan Round 5 July 30, 2006 AUGUST 16, 2006 • C Y C L E N E W S 66 World Endurance Championship Beating the Heat There are hard motorcycle races - and then there is the Suzuka 8 Hours. The 8 Hours takes place during the hottest part of the Japanese summer, with tempera- tures often over 90 degrees and relative humidity soaring over 70 percent. Just standing outside for too long can make one feel faint and dizzy. Thus keeping cool and staying hydrated is one of the keys to going fast and finishing the race. "Well, here you just know that it is going to be friggin' hot," said Colin Edwards about the heat. "You suck down these Jell-O shots of protein, and energy drinks, and electrolyte drinks, and that's all you do - all day long, for a week." Part of hydration management is frequent weight checks to ensure riders are drinking several liters of water a day - as much as their body can take. "Here, you have one guy that makes sure you are drinking, and he's taking your weight," Edwards said. "He makes sure that the riders stay all right and we stay hydrated. And in the rider's meeting they tell us to stay hydrated, keep drinking, and if you have a problem then go to the doctor." During the race a rider is normally stripped down to his shorts and then steps into a children's swimming pool. Blocks of ice are in the water to keep the water chilled and help bring down the rider's body temperature as quickly as possible. "You strip all your clothes off and jump in a bath that has ice cubes floating around in it to bring your body temperature down," Edwards said. "You jump in and stay there until you freeze your nuts off!" After cooling down, the rider dries off and makes a dash to an air-conditioned suite where he drinks as much water as possible. In some cases, riders are given an intravenous drip. "I did the intravenous drip the first year I came here," said Edwards. "I just think it's a little too much. You feel like shit when you get off the bike after an hour. Then they give you something that makes you feel good, but it's kind of a ploy. You feel good for about 20 minutes, but then the drop is dou- ble. You hit rock bottom and you struggle to do anything. So after that first year I went to just drink- ing to stay hydrated. I did not do the IV drip in '96 when we won." To speed up the IV-drip process and prevent having his arm poked by a needle four times in one afternoon, Edwards raced with the IV needle in his arm in 1995. "They just taped over the nee- dle and I rode with it in my arm. Okay, it's a little, flexible plastic needle - but still - now I'm not into the needle thing." Once the race is over the fun and games start as the teams toss cold water from the swimming pools on anyone walking near the back of the pits.

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