The 2006 Suzuka 8 Hour round of the FIM World Endurance Championship has been won by the No.778 FCC TSR Honda CBR1000RR of Ito and Tsujimura, with the No.101 Toy Story Honda of Konishi and Yasuda in second place and the No.12 Yoshimura Suzuki of Aoki and Watanabe third. The FCC TSR bike led from the fourth hour, after the Toy Story Honda had led for two of the incident packed opening hours. Yamaha Blue Racing’s Colin Edwards crashed after being clipped by another bike on the first lap. He remounted and began to work his way through the field from 52nd position but his bike had been damaged in the incident and stopped shortly afterwards. His team mate Haga did not even get to ride. The two Seven Stars Hondas had both hoped to make it onto the podium by the end of the race but both jut missed out despite a series of lap records set late in the race. World Endurance Championship leaders Suzuki Castrol had also been aiming for at least a podium finish but three crashes two by Vincent Philippe and one by Keiichi Kitagawa dropped them from a highest place of sixth in the first hour to an eventual 38th place. Bolliger Kawasaki were even more unlucky, suffering an unusual engine failure on the first lap. Yamaha Austria, meanwhile, ran a faultless and consistent race to finish in 10th place (and first Yamaha across the line), just two laps ahead of championship rivals Yamaha Phase One in 17th place. Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se ended up 24th after crashing and recovering in the final hour, Kawasaki Diablo were 31st after beating the Shell Endurance Academy back to 32nd and Suzuki Endurance Moto45 ended the race in 42nd place. With only the Superbike, SuperProduction and SuperStock bikes scoring championship points, the good result for Yamaha and disappointment for Suzuki Castrol and Bolliger has closed the gap between leaders Suzuki Castrol and second placed Yamaha Austria to just 21 points, with 70 points still available. THE FIM ENDURANCE CUP Japan (with Seven Stars Honda No.7) has won the FIM Endurance Cup of Nations, with Austria (Yamaha Austria) second, Great Britain (Yamaha Phase One Endurance) third and Sweden (SuzukiFagersjo-el.se) fourth. QUOTES Gwen Giabbani, Yamaha Austria: “I expected the race to be tougher because of my injury from Albacete, and also I thought it would be very hot this year, but it wasn’t so bad. We had a good feeling on the bike, good physical conditions; it was okay for us.” Mandy Kainz, Yamaha Austria team manager: “Now we are twenty one points behind Suzuki Castrol, so the championship starts again from here. The next two races are 24 hours, and anything can happen. Suzuki had bad luck here and we had good luck, and now the championship is really close. To win one of the next races would be my dream. I’m quite happy with this result, but this is my dream.” Damian Cudlin, Yamaha Phase One Endurance: “It’s been very hard, but it always is hard here. The team have done a really good job because we’ve really struggled to get the right tyre here. Me and Warwick and Christer all put a big effort in for the race and we’ve had faultless pit stops from the rest of the boys. This result is a credit to everyone in the team. We’re still in the championship…” Niklas Calrberg, Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se team manager: “The race was very difficult. We had some bike problems in the beginning, and then Adrian Coates had a crash in the last session. We had to repair the left side of the bike so we lost some positions and had to win them back.” Alex Cudlin, Kawasaki Diablo 666: “It’s been pretty good for my first Suzuka experience; I didn’t realize how physical this track would be in the heat; it really took it out of me in the last stint.” TOP TEN PROVISIONAL FINISHING POSITIONS 1st 778 FCC TSR Zip FM JPN Honda CBR1000RR T.Tsujimura, S.Ito 214 laps 2nd 101 Toy Story RT Run & HARC Pro JPN Honda CBR1000RR Y.Konishi, T.Yasuda +1:08.459 3rd 12 Yoshimura Suzukiwith JOMO JPN Suzuki GSX-R1000 N.Aoki, A.Watanabe +2:11.149 4th 11 Seven Stars Honda 11 JPN Honda CBR1000RR T.Okada, O.Deguchi +1 lap 5th 7 Seven Stars Honda 7 JPN Honda CBR1000RR R.Kiyonari, M.Tamada +1 lap 6th 04 Masked Rider Kabuto Honda JPN Honda CBR1000RR T.Yamaguchi, K.Tokudome +3 laps 7th 18 Team Yoshiharu Yokkaichi JPN Honda CBR1000RR Y.Sugai, J.Brookes +4 laps 8th 5 Trick Star & B-Line JPN Kawasaki ZX10R N.Matsudo, R.Tsuruta +6 laps 9th 48 FCC TSR Zip FM JPN Honda CBR1000RR Y.Teshima, G.Kamada +6 laps 10th 07 Yamaha Austria AUT Yamaha YZF-R1 G.Giabbani, I.Jerman, S.Scarnato +8 laps More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing: F.C.C. TSR HONDA VICTORIOUS IN SUZUKA 8 HOURS HARC PRO HONDA SECOND The F.C.C. TSR Honda pairing of Shinichi Ito and Takeshi Tsujimura raced their XX-F Class CBR1000RR to victory at the Suzuka 8 Hours today. The Japanese pairing led the race almost all the way from start to finish completing 210 laps of the 5.821km circuit to take the win by one clear lap from the Harc Pro Honda of Yoshiteru Konishi and Tsuyoshi Yasuda, racing under Japanese Superbike regulations (JSB). Nobuatsu Aoki and Atsushi Watanabe brought the Yoshimura Suzuki (JSB) home in third place. Near veteran Ito, now 39 years old started the race from pole position and quickly established the order of play by leading the first hour of the gruelling eight-hour sprint race. The Harc Pro pairing were in close contention with their Toy Story liveried CBR1000RR holding at bay the Seven Star 11 HRC CBR1000RRW (JSB) machine of Tady Okada and Osamu Deguchi in third place again on a JSB spec machine. Into the second hour the Toy Story Honda eased ahead of Ito and Tsujimura with the Yoshimura pairing demoting the number 11 Seven Star team to fourth, just a ahead of team-mates Kiyonari and Tamada on the second HRC CBR1000RRW. Hours three and four saw the race pattern set with Ito and Tsujimura pushing hard to maintain their lead over the Toy Story Harc Pro pairing with Yoshimura holding a solid third place. The two Seven Star teams were now fourth and fifth. But the number 7 machine of Kiyonari and Tamada was experiencing ‘front end judder’ attributed to brake problems on the CBR1000RRW bringing Kiyo into the pits for two unscheduled stops. The demise of #11 saw Kiyonari and Tamada slide down the order to 10th place. The top three held their positions through the next two hours but Kiyonari and Tamada were fighting back and with two hours to go were up to fifth place and chasing their Seven Star team-mates, Okada and Deguchi, holding fourth, both teams one lap down on the leading trio. The pace at the front was relentless with Ito and Tsujimura slowly easing away from their pursuers throughout the seventh hour to establish a one-lap cushion over the Toy Story combination of Konishi and Yasuda. The Seven Star teams continued their comeback with Okada and Deguchi holding their fourth place from the hard charging Kiyo and Tamada. Ito was chasing his third Suzuka 8 Hours victory and was in no mood to slacken the pace as the race entered its final hour. Tsujimura had yet to win Japans most prestigious two wheeled race and his determination matched that of his team mate the two men pushing running a fast pace through the final hour to win by over a lap from the Harc Pro Honda with Yoshimura taking third place at the flag. Okada and Deguchi took fourth with Kiyo and Tamada ending their troubled race in fifth place, one lap down on their team-mates. The Masked Rider Honda pairing of Yamaguchi and Tokudome were next home a further two laps down in sixth place. The Yoshiteru Yokkaichi Honda of Japanese rider Yoshiyuki Sugai and Australian Joshua Brookes crossed the line in seventh, one lap clear of the Tsuruta and Matsudo (Kawasaki). The second F.C.C. TSR Honda in the hands of Yasuke Tejima and Gaku Kamada completed a good day for the team with ninth. Yamaha Austria rounded out the top ten. Honda CBR1000RR machines took no less than 10 of the top 15 places in the race. Honda rider quotes: Takeshi Tsujimura, F.C.C. TSR Honda: 1st. “I am relieved because there was an atmosphere that we must win the race. I did a lot of night running during the free practice as I was going to do the final stint. We made a lot of advantage before the dark so I could stay cool till the end. Although we are a private team, people from Kayaba, Nisshin and OGK were with us throughout the race. We were disappointed when we lost the Suzuka 300km Race and that is why we could win today.” Shinichi Ito, F.C.C. TSR Honda: “I still can’t believe we won the race. It is like a dream come true. I am very much relieved because I was invited to the team to win the race. The reason why I was doing the start was that we knew two Seven Stars Honda would push from the start and thus the pace would be high and we wanted to make a fast rhythm. I was surprised to see Kiyonari making an irregular pit-stop. After that we made an advantage to the others. The main reason for the win was that both our machine and Bridgestone tyre was in good condition till the end. I was thinking that if we can’t win this year it doesn’t mean anything to continue participating in the 8 hour race, so I am quite happy that we won.” Yoshiteru Konishi, Toy Story Harc Pro Honda: 2nd. “The reason we could finish second is that Yasuda managed to keep up with the leaders. As it was very hot this year and also we haven’t done any long distance test, I was very tired. I realized how old I am. Yasuda’s riding impressed me and pushed me to do my best. Last year, Yasuda was third and this year we are second, so if we do it again we must win. May be it will be too hard for me physically, still I would like to try.” Takeshi Yasuda, Toy Story Harc Pro Honda: 2nd. “I tried to keep up the pace with the leading group. There were many top riders so I was desperate to try my best. However, both tyre and I were physically tired. That is why, I was left by them. Looking back the race as a whole, we were quite cool in every condition. I want to thank my team for preparing us such a good machine.” Tadayuki Okada, Seven Star Honda: 4th. “I was the start rider today and was third when I came back to the start/finish line after the opening lap. The track temperature was increasing and we could not push too hard. The condition of the machine was very good so we pushed as much as possible. During the last stint, the track temperature lowered and I had no problem physically, so I concentrated so much to improve our position.” Osamu Deguchi, Seven Star Honda: 4th: “If my lap times were better, we would have been on the podium so I fell sorry for the team, Okada san and also for our fans. During my first stint, tyre movements were different from what I had expected and I put excess strength to my body. During my last stint, I was doing my best to catch up Yoshimura. I learned a lot during this weekend riding a factory machine and as a partner to Okada san. I want to utilize this experience for my All Japan Championship race.” Kazuhiko Yamano The Team Manager. “Although Deguchi became the #11 rider this week, I wish I could let him ride more. Also I told him not to crash and this might have become a pressure to him. Deguchi has more potential than he showed today. I think Okada has done a good job.” Tsutomu Ishii HRC General Manager. “#11 Team finished fourth, three places down from the victory. So there must be at least four reasons for the defeat.” Ryuichi Kiyonari, Seven Star Honda: 5th. ” I am very disappointed because we couldn’t win the race. We thought we could win it and we were going to win it. During my first and second stint, front brake judder occurred and I had to come into the pit. For the last stint, I was pushing hard to mark the fastest lap and I am happy I did it. When I passed Okada san during my last stint, I kind of bowed to him to show ‘Sorry Okada san’. If I can ride with Tamada san again, we will try our best to win the race.” Makoto Tamada, Seven Star Honda: 5th. “I feel very sorry to HRC because although they asked me to take part in the race, I could not show my full potential. I also feel sorry to my fans who came to Suzuka to watch us win the race. I wanted to win desperately so I am very disappointed. If I can ride with Kiyonari again, we must win the race. Today my knee wasn’t so bad but my right wrist, which I broke last year, was hurting very much toward the end. I had three weeks before the next MotoGP race in Brno so I will relax to heal it. The Czech GP will be really important for me.” Katsunori Suzuki The Team Manager “There were some unexpected phenomena and Kiyonari had to make two irregular stops. We were aiming for the win so we are very disappointed.” Tsutomu Ishii The HRC General Manager. “#7 Team finished fifth, four places down from the victory. We must find the reasons for this and study them. The result was fifth but two riders were doing their best.”