|
Ukawa - Izutsu take Suzuka 8 Hours win aboard the CBR1000RR Honda
|
Date: July 28, 2004 14:15
Submitted by:
danielgr
Source:
Honda
Credibility Rating:
N/A
Tohru Ukawa and Hitoyasu Izutsu raced their Seven Stars liveried CBR1000RR
Honda to a historic victory at the 27th running of the Suzuka 8 Hours, held at
the classic Japanese circuit today. The experienced pairing led the race
virtually every step of the way, lead off rider Ukawa moving into the lead half
way round lap one and from that point on they never looked back.
They finished the race almost two laps ahead of the Yoshimura Suzuki of
Watanabe and Kagayama with the ATS DDBOYS CBR1000RR of Hamaguchi and Moriwaki
completing the podium places. It was the eighth consecutive Honda victory in the
grueling event and their 19th overall.
Ukawa’s victory was his fourth Suzuka 8 Hour triumph a result that gave him an
equal share of the record set by Australian Wayne Gardner over a decade ago.
Ukawa said. “It’s fantastic to win the 8hr race. I didn’t feel that long today.
During the first session, when I was leading the race, pace cars entered the
track and I took the advantage of it. Usually, accidents happen during the early
hours, so I was cautious. But I nearly crashed when there were oil patches on
the track. After that, everything went smoothly and during my last run, I was
not pushing so hard, may be 70% of my performance.”
For team mate Izutsu it was a dream come true. “I joined Honda to win the 8hr
race so I am really happy today. Today, many teams retired and there were less
back markers towards the end and it was easier to pass them. #11 crashed and
retired during the first hour and we had to finish this year. We couldn’t repeat
what had happened last year. The gap between us and Yoshimura became bigger
toward the end so I didn’t have to push so hard. At the beginning of this
weekend, my back ached because I crashed during the testing in June and broke
ribs. But today I was in best shape as the temperature was cooler than that of
Thursday or Friday. I thank everyone for this victory."
The first hour of the race was a lottery and the winners took full advantage of
the confusion caused by the crash that removed the second Seven Stars CBR of
Gaku Kamata and Ryuichi Kiyonari from the race. Kamata, who was racing in place
of the injured Yuki Takahashi, crashed their CBR after just half an hour. Worse
was to follow for Honda when the much fancied pairing of Shinichi Ito and
Takeshi Tsujimura (F.C.C. TSR ZIP-FM CBR1000RR) clashed with the Team Harc-Pro
CBR of Yoshiteru Konishi and Tsuyoshi Yasuda.
The accidents brought out two pace cars with Ukawa in between them and he eased
away to hand over a one minute lead to Izutsu at the first of the seven
refueling stops. Barring a crash or mechanical failure the race was Ukawa’s and
Izutsu’s to win.
They made no mistake slowly but surely easing away from the field to give the
CBR1000RR a maiden victory in the event repeating the first time victories
scored by its predecessors, the twin cylinder VTR1000SP and the RC45.
At half race distance the eventual winners were a lap clear of the Yoshimura
Suzuki with the Kenz Motul Suzuki of Saito and Fukami. The race pattern remained
the same at the front until the seventh hour when the Kenz Motul Suzuki was
forced out handing third to ATS DDBOYS CBR.
The leading trio were never under pressure and finished in that order the Seven
Stars Honda two laps clear of the Yoshimura Suzuki with ATS DDBOYS machine a
further lap down. Tatsuya Yamaguchi and Kazuki Tokudome brought the Masked Rider
Blade Honda home in fourth place with the Team 22 Police Nationale & Tsukigi
Racing pairing of Kishida and Giabbani a fine fifth on their CBR1000RR.
Seven Stars Honda Team manager Kazuhiko Yamano was delighted with the
performance of the new CBR100RR.“What a perfect win that was. I relied on both
Ukawa and Izutsu so I wasn’t nervous at all. All the members of the team were
together to achieve this victory. I want to thank the staff, sponsors and fans
for supporting us.”
The race win rewarded sponsor Seven Stars for keeping faith with Honda after the
disaster of the 2003 event when chaotic events unjustly removed both Seven Stars
liveried VTRs from the race. HRC General Manager Koji Nakajima said. “Last year,
two Seven Star Hondas retired so we had to win this year. It was very long since
then. Also you never know what might happen during the race, so I wasn’t
confident today till the end. I want to thank everyone who supported us.”
Veteran rider Shinichi Ito made a token appearance in the last 30 minutes of
what might well be his last 8 hour race much to the delight of his many fans who
cheered him around every lap he put in on the F.C.C. TSR ZIP-FM machine.
1 |
|
T.UKAWA/H.IZUTSU
(SevenStars Honda 7/H-CBR1000RRW) |
|
2 |
|
A.WATANABE/Y.KAGAYAMA
(YOSHIMURA SUZUKI JOMO with SRIXON/S-GSX-R1000) |
|
3 |
|
T.HAMAGUCHI/S.MORIWAKI
(weider Honda ATS DDBOYS/H-CBR1000RR) |
|
4 |
|
T.YAMAGUCHI/K.TOKUDOME
(MASKED RIDER BLADE Honda/H-CBR1000RR) |
|
5 |
|
T.KISHIDA/G.GIABBANI
(Team22Police Nationale&TSUKIGI Racing
/H-CBR1000RR) |
|
6 |
|
Y.SUGAI/T.YAMAMOTO
(TeamYoshiharuYOKKAICHI.IDEMITSUMAIDOPLUS/H-CBR1000RR) |
|
7 |
|
Y.KONISHI/T.YASUDA
(T e a m ‚g‚`‚q‚b- P R O./H-CBR1000RR) |
|
8 |
|
D.CHECA/S.GIMBERT/W.COSTES
(YAMAHA-GMT94/Y-YZF-R1) |
|
9 |
|
T.OKADA/C.KAMEYA
(RUNAHANSHINTIGERSSAKURAIHONDA #80/H-CBR1000RR) |
|
10 |
|
T.ARAKAKI/M.OHISHI
(TEAM OSG PHOENIX & MOTOSPORT/H-CBR1000RR) |
Last edited by Tuan on
July 28, 2004 14:45
|
|
[fancy]
[flat]
[simple]
|
Subject |
Thread Originator |
Replies |
Last Post |
|
JMU R1 |
1 |
|
|
|
|