Yoshimura Suzuki’s Atsushi Watanabe and Yukio Kagayama raced their GSX-R1000 into fourth place in the one-lap Special Stage qualifier for the Suzuka 8 Hour World Endurance round in Japan, which takes place tomorrow. Kagayama’s time of 2 minutes 08.071 was just over half a second off pole setters Takeshi Tsujimura and Shin’Ichi Itoh (Honda). Suzuki Endurance Racing Team’s Suzuki Castrol will start in seventh position after team rider Vincent Phillipe crashed heavily. But, following a quick repair, team mate Yukio Kagayama posted a time of 2 minutes 09.616. The WSB Superpole-style event was run in hot conditions and in front of a crowd of 41,000. Yoshimura Suzuki Team Manager Fujio Yoshimura said: “We have the perfect set-up for the race. Yukio’s lap time was better than our expectations and we are completely ready for 8 hours and hopefully a win.” SERT boss Dominique Melliand added: “We hope for a good race tomorrow. We hope win this race and 2005 Championship.” Final starting grid: 1: T.Tsujimura / S.Ito (Honda) 2’08.071. 2: R.Kiyonari / T.Ukawa (Honda) 2’08.565. 3: T.Yamaguchi / K.Tokudome (Honda) 2’08.628. 4: Atsushi Watanabe / Yukio Kagayama (Yoshimura Suzuki) 2’08.657. 5: S.Nakatomi / W.Yoshikawa (Yamaha) 2’09.033. 6: O.Deguchi / Y.Teshima (Honda) 2’09.336. 7: Keiichi Kitagawa / Vincent Phillip (Suzuki Castrol) 2’09.616. 8: C.Vermulen / K.Fujiwara (Honda) 2’09.744. 9: T.Hamaguchi / S.Moriwaki (Honda) 2’10.068. 10: N.Matsudo / L.Camier (Honda) 2’10.139. More, from a press release issued by FGSport Group: Suzuka 8 Hours Special Stage No.778 FCC TSR Honda Take Pole Position The No.778 FCC TSR Honda will start on pole position for tomorrow’s Suzuka 8 Hours round of the FIM World Endurance Championship. The top twenty grid positions are decided by a high-pressure two-part super pole style Special Stage session which sees two riders from each team attempt a single ultra-fast lap time. All of the ‘slower’ riders from each team go first, in the “Attack” stage. The quicker riders from each team then have chance to improve on their team mate’s performance in the “Jump Up” stage. The teams’ fastest times from either Attack or Jump Up stage are then used to set the grid positions. No.7 Seven Stars Honda’s Toru Ukawa set the fastest time in the Attack phase with a time of 2:08.565. The No.778 FCC TSR Honda of Tsujimura was second and the No.12 Yoshimura Suzuki of Watanabe third. Suzuki Castrol’s Vincent Phillipe crashed halfway round his lap, to collective groans from the spectators packing the grandstands and pit lane. He had just set the fastest first sector split time of the day and seemed to be on the way to beating his personal best. His crash put extra pressure on Keiichi Kitagawa to do well in the “Jump Up” stage, but Special Stage old hand Kitagawa was able to pull the team back up to fifth place with a time of 2:09.616. Yamaha YSP Presto and FCC TSR Honda No.5 then both improved their first stage times, knocking Suzuki 123 Castrol back to an eventual seventh on the grid. Kiyonari was unable to beat his Honda team mate Ukawa’s time on the Jump Up stage, but Shinichi Itoh managed to shave half a second off Ukawa’s time in the second to last run of the day to take pole position for FCC TSR Honda with a time of 2:08.071. Top Ten Provisional Grid Positions 1st 778 FCC TSR ZIP FM Honda JPN Honda CBR1000RR S.Itoh 2:08.072 2nd 7 Seven Stars Honda JPN Honda CBR1000RRW T.Ukawa 2:08.565 3rd 4 Masked Rider Honda JPN Honda CBR1000RR K.Tokudome 2:08.628 4th 12 Yoshimura Suzuki JPN Suzuki GSX-R1000 Y.Kagayama 2:08.657 5th 21 YSP & Presto Yamaha JPN Yamaha YZF-R1 S.Nakatomi 2:09.033 6th 55 FCC TSR DyDo Honda JPN Honda CBR1000RR O.Deguchi 2:09.336 7th 2 Suzuki 0123 Castrol FRA Suzuki GSX-R1000 K.Kitagawa 2:09.616 8th 11 Seven Stars Honda JPN Honda CBR1000RRW K.Fujiwara 2:09.744 9th 044 Weider Honda ATS JPN Honda CBR1000RR S.Moriwaki 2:10.068 10th 74 Moriwaki Motul Tiger JPN Honda CBR1000RR L.Camier 2:10.139