Suzuka 8hour July 30th 2006
Team Yoshiharu's 20th and Last Challenge at Suzuka 8 Hours
30th July 2006
Team Yoshiharu with K1 Racing has finished an impressive 7th place in the highly touted Suzuka Eight Hour endurance race held in Japan.
Japanese endurance ace Yoshiyuki Sugai and Josh Brookes the reigning Australian Superbike and Supersport Champion and current World Superbike rider put in another super-human effort to put the privateer Honda CBR1000RR in 7th place overall, ahead of many other fancied teams, and in 2nd place in their class (X-Formula).
With the work put in by Yuki in the lead up event (see article below: "Road to Suzuka 8 Hours 300km race"), the team was able to qualify the bike 17th in a field of 70. After the first hour the team was just outside the top 10 running in a solid 11th place. Come the end of the second and third hours they were up to position 10, from then on they were 9th at the 4th hour, 8th at the 5th and then 7th at the end of hour 6.
With one hour to go, in position 7 and with a comfortable lead on 8th place they decided to make a push for 6th position. Only being 1 lap down on the 6th place bike it was worth a shot as they were 3 seconds a lap quicker. Figuring the rider ahead might sense the challenge and make a mistake under the pressure they pushed on. Unfortunately nothing came of the late charge and they crossed the line in a superb 7th place at the most prestigous road race event of the year.
The overall event honours were taken by Team F.C.C / TSR with a total of 187 laps of the demanding circuit, 4 laps ahead of Team Yoshiharu / K1 Racing.
After the event Yoshihara, the team owner announced his retirement from the Suzuka 8hr event, as he is sadly unable to continue supporting the sport he loves as he is battling ill health and needs to concentrate on recouperating.
Kazu, ex World GP mechanic for Kanemoto and Rainey and the man behind K1 Racing recalled how going back to the epicenter of road racing has rekindled his spirit for the action of world class pit lane.
"It is an honour to once again work with long time friend Yoshihara in his 20th and last Suzuka 8hr. I am very happy with overall result and very happy to once again finish well inside the top 10 at the world's toughest & most prestigious motorcycle road race event. The pressure is so great and with so much going on I got less than 20 hours sleep over the 5 days of the event. At the end I was so drained I slept for almost a day when I got back to Australia."
More images and rider reports coming soon
Suzuka 2006 images at mcnews.com.au
Official Results with qualifying and hourly race positions
28th July 2006
Qualifying: 17th time 2' 12" 404 (Joshua Brookes)
13th June 2006
It's official! Josh Brookes will be back on Honda at Suzuka 8 Hours with Team Yoshiharu. Josh says he's looking forward to riding well and finishing even better than last year's 6th position. (Last year 2005 Josh Brookes)
11th June 2006
Race Report from Road to Suzuka 300Km race on 11th June
Team Yoshiharu competed in the Road to Suzuka 8 Hours 300km race with their main rider (Sugai).
They qualified 19th and finished 13th out of 67 entries.
Sugai said the bike still needs some work, but he's looking forward to racing
with Josh Brookes again.
