Suzuka 8 Hours

[ChrisS]

the 30th Suzuka 8-Hours is this Sunday. 85 teams are taking part, 18 permanent World Endurance Championship teams and a lot of Japanese teams. All bikes are by Japanese manufacturers with an exception of a single Ducati 999R entered by a Japanese team

Familiar names taking part in the race are: WSBK championship leader James Toseland and BSB champion Ryuichi Kiyonari on HRC's #1 bike, Honda LCR rider Carlos Checa and Tady Okada on HRC's #2 bike (Jonathan Rea was initially announced as Checa's team mate but Honda eventually decided to go with Okada and Rea is the reserve rider), Alstare Suzuki WSBK rider Yukio Kagayama and Suzuki MotoGP tester Kousuke Akiyoshi riding for the official Yoshimura Suzuki outfit and former 500GP race winner Norick Abe and Australian Superbike and Supersport champion Jamie Stauffer at the official Yamaha team.

Yoshimura Suzuki posted the fastest time in Thursday’s free tests with a lap of 2’08.585 set by Kousuke Akiyoshi

[ChrisS]

full entry list
http://www.motoracing-japan.com/result/spl/078h_e.html

[ChrisS]

James Toseland is on provisional pole with a best time 2:08.344 seconds. Okada was just 0.008 seconds slower. Toseland said he was held by a backmarker and could go faster.

Kagayama put the Yoshimura Suzuki in third place

Attack and Jump Up special stages take place tomorrow to determine the final starting order.

full qualifying results
http://www.motoracing-japan.com/result/spl/078h_q.html

[patnicholls]

Looking pretty interesting so far, and JT looking superb. Kinda weird seeing the regular Endurance teams far down the order but that seems to be normal at Suzuka with so many competitive Japanese riders and teams. Good to see some names of Japanese former WSB and GP riders in there.

Also a shame for Jonny Rea who got demoted to reserve HRC rider late on, and as such won't be riding. Carlos Checa has gone alright on the bike by all accounts, but still.

[ChrisS]

Checa and Okada are on pole for the Suzuka 8 hour on the Honda #2 bike. Checa set a time of 2'07.587 during Attack and none of the other teams were able to improve during Jump Up so Okada didnt have to set a time. Yamaha Racing with Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Nobuyuki Ohsaki 2nd and Yoshimura Suzuki with Yukio Kagayama and Kohsuke Akiyoshi. James Toseland and Ryuichi Kiyonari start 4th

full special stages results
http://www.motoracing-japan.com/result/spl/078h_s.html

[ChrisS]

Also a shame for Jonny Rea who got demoted to reserve HRC rider late on, and as such won't be riding. Carlos Checa has gone alright on the bike by all accounts, but still.

Maybe Rea isn't 100% fit after his crash at Mallory. Checa was confirmed to ride from the start, its Okada that replaced Rea

I've not been able to locate a live timing site for the Suzuka 8 hr race but the following site would appear the most likely for lap times and results
http://www.racecorporation.co.uk/Suzuka_2007.htm

[Wim_Impreza]

After 5 hours of racing and 135 laps the #34 Suzuki with SBK driver Yukio Kagayama and Akiyoshi is leading. Second is the #33 Honda with Tadayuki Okada and Carlos Checa and third the #778 Honda with Teshima and Ito. Both are in the same lap. Fourth is the #12 Suzuki with Watanabe - Sakai + 1 lap and fifth the #81 Yamaha with James Stauffer - Noriyuki Abe, + 2 laps.

'Only' on 10th position are the endurance champions of last year with the #1 Suzuki: Vincent Philippe, Mathieu Lagrive and Jules da Costa.

It seems that Team HRC #11 with Ryuichi Kiyonari and James Toseland retired.

[ChrisS]

I think Toseland crashed and retire in his 'outlap' after the first switch 1 hour into the race

[Wim_Impreza]

That should be a real pity. If you read a confirmation about that, please post it.