Racing

Biggest Race of the Year?

Photo Gallery: Best shots, Suzuka 8-Hours

August 9, 2007

Quick, name the single most important motorcycle race in the world. The Daytona 200? Nah, not for years. Instead, you have to travel halfway ’round the world to the Mie Prefecture in south-central Japan, where for 30 years the Big Four have brought their best bullets to the Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race. At stake? Nothing less than corporate pride and company honor.

Held in their collective backyard, the 8-Hours elicits huge efforts from the Japanese bike-makers. The race is part of the FIM World Endurance series, so most of the regular teams are there, but they merely form a moving backdrop for the Suzuka ringers: Japanese Superbike standouts, as well as the odd hired gun from MotoGP or World Superbike. This year GP vet Carlos Checa showed up and proved he can still bring the heat. A Suzuka rookie, he outqualified everyone to take pole position for his HRC Honda team.It was a World Superbike regular, though, who stole the show. Home boy Yukio Kagayama, on loan from the Alstare Corona Suzuki WSB squad, teamed with friend Kosuke Akiyoshi on the Team Yoshimura GSX-R1000 to give Suzuki the win—particularly gratifying as Yosh won the first eight Suzuka events, but lately it’s been a Red benefit. This win put the kibosh on a 10-year Honda win streak at Suzuka.

Before the advent of MotoGP 990s and now 800s, Suzuka’s Superbikes-with-lights were the trickest four-strokes going. They still exude an ultra-works aura, as befits machinery that is honed all year for one shot at glory. See, it may be the Suzuka 8-Hours, but a win brings 12 months of bragging rights.

Sound Off! Is the 8-Hours the biggest race in the world?

Leather Together: Leather together: The teammates touch gloved fists after their win.

Talented Teammate: Akiyoshi at full lean. The win was the Suzuki factory?s first at the 8-Hours since 1983.

Start 1: One of racing?s great sights, the Le Mans-style start, no longer allowed with cars because of all the driver safety equipment that has to be hooked up. Eighty-six teams entered the 2007 Suzuka 8-Hours.

Twilight Twosome: Japanese performance house Moriwaki has been a Suzuka standout since the beginning. Here team rider Leon Camier, a 21-year-old Brit, leads Toseland in a dusk practice session.

R1 with the Curve: Yamaha has some work to do. Highest-placing YZF-R1 was just inside the top 10 in ninth. Here, the Osaki/Nakasuga factory bike arcs nicely around a corner, was running eighth, but they were out after 20 laps.

Privateer?s Lament: Team ABG?s Suzuki GSX-R1000 looked the business but finished in 50th, and is out of the top 30 in FIM standings. Cool frog logo, though.

Top Two: Yoshimura and HRC shadowed each other in practice, but after eight hours of racing it was Yosh winning by 2 minutes, 1 second.

Star Power :Over the past 30 years, almost all the greats have raced at the 8-Hours. Checa (right) is in the twilight of his career while Toseland is on the ascent.

Euro Gixxer: Defending world champs Suzuki Endurance don?t have a bad piece, either. Note jumbo fuel tank. The claim is 180 hp at 12,000 rpm and a dry weight of 382 pounds.

Start 2: Okada did the cross-track sprinting for the HRC 33 team, but apparently he left the blocks a little early, against the rules, never mind that the Yoshimura 34 bike got away first.

Locked, Loaded: Yoshimura?s Suzuka weapons, looking good, ready to fire. No. 12 sister GSX-R1000 finished fourth. JOMO is a Japanese petrochemical giant.

Lean Machine: The No. 1 FIM Suzuki, lead rider Vincent Philippe up. The team finished seventh overall, second of the regulars, and leads the series points chase by a commanding margin.

Confident Kagy: Kagayama was on a high after his Suzuka win. Maybe too much so; next weekend he crashed heavily in leg one of Brands Hatch Superbike race and had to be stretchered off. He came back to finish fifth in leg two.

In Memory: No. 2 Honda was a DNF. The "74" on the rider?s knee is in remembrance of Daijiro Kato, former 250cc world champion, who lost his life at the Suzuka MotoGP race in 2003. The FIM then retired his number.

Checa?s Check: Winning pole position brings a 2-million-yen bounty (about $17,000), not bad for 2 minutes, 7.587 seconds? work.

Bike to Beat: With a decade-long win streak, a super-tuned CBR1000RR and Carlos Checa turning the best qualifying time, Honda HRC started the race as favorites. Checa teamed with Tadayuki Okada.

Sun, Seed: More prototype than production racer, the top bikes at Suzuka race in a separate JPS (Japanese Superbike) class and don?t compete for points with the regular World Endurance runners. Team Moriwaki finished fifth.

It?s the Pits: Pit stops play a huge role in the Suzuka proceedings. Here, Yoshimura 12 gets a push out of the paddock. Japan?s summer heat and humidity are a factor for riders and crew members alike.