IN
THE
WIND
P46
YAMAHA FACTORY
TRIUMPHS AGAIN
AT SUZUKA
Y
amaha Factory Racing Team
won the Suzuka 8 Hours for
the second consecutive year.
Pol Espargaro, Katsuyuki Naka-
suga and Alex Lowes steered
the Yamaha number 21 to victory
at the July 30-31 event ahead of
Kawasaki's factory Team Green
and Yoshimura Suzuki Shell
Advance.
As in 2015, Yamaha Factory
Racing Team swept the board
at the Suzuka 8 Hours, claiming
both pole position and a win,
with Espargaro, Nakasuga and
Lowes leading almost every one
of the 218 laps.
Ryuichi Kiyonari, who got off
to a brilliant start in the saddle of
Team Kagayama's Suzuki, was
the only one to briefly wrestle
the lead out of their grasp. Head
and shoulders above the others
with a fastest lap of 2:08.411,
the Yamaha Factory Racing
Team widened the gap with the
other potential winners as the
hours slipped by. Second past
the finish line, Team Green ran
a superb race with riders Akira
Yanagawa, Leon Haslam and
Kazuki Watanabe. Team Green
and Yoshimura Suzuki Shell
Advance had waged a heated
battle for the second step of the
podium in the final few hours
of the race, but Team Green
managed to turn the duel to its
advantage. The last time there
was a Kawasaki on the Suzuki 8
Hours podium was 2009.
It turned out to be a race to
forget for Nicky Hayden and the
Musashi RT Harc-Pro team, the
8 Hours regulars withdrawing
midrace with a blown engine.
America's other rider in the
race, PJ Jacobsen with the FCC
TSR Honda team, finished down
in 18th after a crash on the fifth
lap by teammate Dominique
Aegerter. The team was running
fourth but dropped to the back
of the pack.
French privateer outfit Team
April Moto Motors Events (19th
at Suzuka) leads the champion-
ship by eight points over SRC
Kawasaki, 68 to 60, going into
the final round of the series at
the, Oschersleben 8 Hours on
August 27. That final round will
also see an increase in available
points on offer, with 35 rather
than the standard 25 on offer for
the race win. CN
Yamaha's dream team
of Alex Lowes (Left),
Katsuyuki Nakasuga and
Pol Espargaro (right) were
unstoppable at Suzuka.
The race gets underway but for
Nicky Hayden and compatriot PJ
Jacobsen, it was a race to forget.
