Team HRC go into the 2006 edition of the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours chasing a record breaking 10th consecutive victory. HRC will enter two Seven Star liveried CBR1000RRW machines in the gruelling high speed-event at the 5.824km circuit. For the race this year the Japanese factories have agreed to race under Japanese Superbike (JSB) regulations rather than World Superbike regulations that allow for more machine modifications than the Japanese series. Spearheading the Honda Seven Star assault will be 23-year-old Japanese star Ryuichi Kiyonari. ‘Kiyo’ aims to repeat his winning ride in the race last year, when paired with the vastly experienced five-time race winner Tohru Ukawa. This time round ‘Kiyo’ will be teamed aboard the fabled number 7 machine by MotoGP rider Makoto Tamada.. Kiyonari, who plies his trade in the ultra-competitive British Superbike Championship, is happy to return to Suzuka hoping to repeat the success of his last visit, in June, when he won the Suzuka 300 Kilometre’s the warm up event for the 8 hours race. That day ‘Kiyo’ was partnered by Yuki Takahashi but Takahashi crashed and broke his arm while testing theCBR100RRW and will not race this weekend. “This year’s machine is JSB specification and is completely different from what I ride for the British Superbike Championship. Engine character is very much different and I feel the difference at the west part of the track, the second half.” Said Kiyonari “However, it is easy to ride this machine as it is well-balanced in every area so the lap time will not be so much different from last year. The biggest problem will be backmarkers. Last year it was easy to pass them at straights but this year, it is harder as top speed is slower now. I won the Suzuka 300km race with Yuki Takahashi in June so I feel sorry for him to miss the 8 hours race but Tamada san is my senior at Team Kotake and I respect him very much so I am happy to be his partner. However, he is very strict in every area so I must try my best to keep up with him. Last year I won the race with Ukawa san and I want to win again this year with Tamada san and make it two in row and contribute to Honda’s tenth consecutive win.” Tamada is eager to get to Suzuka hoping to score his first win in the Japanese classic. “I have a little concern about my condition but every day it’s a little better and I must try to keep improving. My physiotherapist is coming to Suzuka with me and he will help me with my knee problem during then weekend.” Explained Tamada, who sustained leg injuries at the German GP on July 16. “I tested the machine at Suzuka and it is very easy to ride after a MotoGP bike. The handling is very good and I will not have to use too much of my strength to move the bike around. It’s a good bike but difficult to compare with other Superbikes because I did not race in Superbike since Sugo in 2002.The layout of the track has changed a little since I last raced at Suzuka and it seemed it was now a tight track but maybe that comes from my MotoGP experience. The surface is very good, also in the rain the rainy season is just ending and the weather forecast for the weekend seems to be OK. The Suzuka 8 Hours is very important for Japanese riders, it is a great honour to win the race. This year factory teams are entering the JSB machines and this means that a lot of private teams have a good chance to win the race. Kiyo san is a very fast rider and at the Suzuka 300km race he was extremely fast. I have never raced as his partner but as he is also from Team Kotake in Kyushu like me, I am really looking forward to the race.” Concluded Tamada. The Honda Seven Star 7 team will be under the stewardship of 2005 winning team manager Katsunori Suzuki, the vastly experienced HRC staff engineer. Tadayuki Okada and Osamu Deguchi will race the second Seven Star liveried Honda and both have excellent Suzuka track credentials. Okada is a veteran racer who has won races at every level having tasted victory in 250cc and 500cc grands prix as well as the Japanese championship and the Suzuka 8 Hours. Deguchi, now a near veteran at 32-years-old has often featured prominently in the eight-hour sprint on his seven appearances. He finished fourth in the race last year aboard the F.C.C TSR Honda CBR1000RR. Okada, himself an experienced team manager will work under Seven Star 11 team manager Kazuhiko Yamano who led the number 11 squad to second place in the 2005 race with riders Katsuaki Fujiwara and Chris Vermeulen. Tady Okada is well placed to discuss the merits of the Seven Star Honda CBR1000RR in JSB specification as he is currently engaged by HRC as a test rider. Tady said of the machine. “This year we are riding a JSB machine and to win the race with a JSB machine is another challenge for Honda. The JSB spec CBR1000RRW is a fun to ride and is very well-balanced. It is also well-matched with Michelin tyre. Michelin has been working hard with us to develop tyres which are suitable for the machine. For instance, front tyre lasts for almost forty laps. Together with Michelin tyre, the JSB machine is competitive enough to race against the Superbikes. Last year and the year before. I was the manager for Kiyonari in the British Superbike Championship but this year I am working as a HRC test rider so I have been testing almost every week lately. I am more used to riding motorcycle on a race-track than previous years. For past three years, I crashed and I have not won the race since 1999, so I am really looking forward to win the race again this year.” Deguchi is delighted to have the opportunity to race a truly competitive machine at Suzuka. “This is my seventh 8 hours race. Being a member of the Honda Factory team is a great honour for me and I know I must go for a win.” Said Deguchi. “I know Suzuka very well and I think I can perform better as an endurance rider than a sprint rider. The most important thing for the 8 hours race is to keep your concentration for long time and also to keep consistent lap times.” Tsutomu Ishii, General Manager HRC, will have overall responsibility for the Seven Star Honda teams and will settle for nothing less than a repeat performance of last year’s success. Ishii led the team to victory that day but with the teams running under World Superbike rules. Ishii said of Sundays race. “For an engineer the Suzuka 8 Hours is very good race for technical feed back. This year the factories have agreed to race under JSB regulations. HRC do not have so much experience in this class as we don’t enter a team in the Japanese series. But we raced at the Suzuka 300 Kilometres race and gained good technical feed back from our winning team of Kiyonari and Takahashi.” “The most important aspect of the Suzuka 8 Hours is teamwork, mechanics, riders, pit crew, everybody involved is hand picked for the race. We begin our preparations three months before the race testing pit staff for rider change over when we refuel and change tyres. The crew is chosen from the best men from our factories around Japan, a process very much like an audition. When we have the team together we practice pit stops regularly. Race strategy is very important at the 8 hours. You start the race with an ‘Ideal’ strategy but the team have to be prepared change strategy if the weather conditions change, or riders crash and the pace car comes into play, all kinds of things can have an effect on strategy.” Several private Honda teams will look to the race with renewed determination as JSB regulations reduce the advantage previously held by the factory Superbike teams. Chief among them the Masked Rider Honda team, the Moriwaki Honda team and Harc Pro Honda, third in 2005, all three teams aiming for the top step on the podium this time around. The Masked Rider Honda was always in contention for the win last year until race crashes demoted them to a fifth-place finish. This year they will not allow similar mistakes to undermine their efforts to take the biggest prize in Japanese two-wheeled racing. They have entrusted their CBR1000RR to the talents of Tetsuya Yamaguchi and Kazuki Tokudome. Yamaguchi said of the race. “This year we have more chance to win as the factory teams are also using the JSB machines. Last year, I crashed when it started to rain and we had to catch up all the way. It was a shame because we were doing OK till then. The most difficult part of the 8 hr race is when tyres loose grip during the last part of each session.” Team partner Kazuki Tokudome was in confident mood on the eve of the race. “In 2004, we finished fourth but last year we were fifth. So this year, we must get on the podium at least. The 8 hours race is long and you have to be careful when passing the backmarkers. But as this is my third year, I got used to it and I know how to cope with the backmarkers. Till last year, rivals were Superbikes, so we could say they were faster, but this year we are on the equal ground. So for sure we have a good chance. I want to use this race as a stepping-stone for my career as I want to race in a World Championship in near future.” The dark-horse in the race for overall victory could well be the Moriwaki Honda team with Shogo Moriwaki and Leon Camier racing the Motul liveried machine, in the XX-F category. Shogo Moriwaki is steeped in the history of Japanese four-stroke racing. He is the son of Mamoru Moriwaki and grandson of the legendary ‘Pops’ Yoshimura both men renowned four-stroke engine tuners and race machine builders Shogo explained what the race means to his extended family. “This year, instead of taking part in the All Japan Championship, I had been concentrating on developing the 8 hours machine for my dad’s team. The only race I took part in was the Suzuka 300km race, which I qualified second but couldn’t show my full potential during the race. So I am really looking forward to the 8 hours race. I really want to race against big names such as Edwards, Haga, Kiyonari, Tamada-san, Okada-san and Ito-san. My dad always tells me how good Crosby and Gardner were in the old days. However, Moriwaki has not won the 8 hours race, so if I win, that will be great for my dad also. My impression on my partner Leon Camier? He has super long legs and arms, you know!. We are a good pair and the set-up is not so much different. My best finish for the Suzuka 8 Hours was third in 2004 so I am trying to get a better result this year.” Moriwaki’s team mate in the Japanese British squad will be English man Leon Camier making his second appearance in the race. Camier is determined not to repeat the mistake he made in his debut ride at Suzuka and said. “It should be good – I’ve been out there testing and considering that we were concentrating on bike set-up the times were putting in were good, so I am really looking forward to getting out there again. The track, I find is very difficult and physical, and to finish the race, let alone win, is tough on the rider, mainly because the heat is problematic. Last year we were running third, but it rained in my second hour, and I clipped a white line and lost it. I’m going out there looking for a win, looking for a good result, but it is such a long race that anything can happen.” Veteran racer Shinichi Ito, a former 500cc grand prix campaigner and double 8 Hours winner will race for the F.C.C. TSR Honda team together with five-times 125cc GP winner Takeshi Tsujimura. The pairing will be seeking overall victory with a CBR1000RR in the XX-F category. “I am now 39 years old and may be this is my last chance to win the 8 hours race again.” Ito said. “For past three years, I got pole-position but missed the victory. This year, I will win both the pole and the race. My partner Tsujimura is gaining more confidence now and is in great shape. So I can rely on him much more than before. The factory teams are using the JSB machine this year, so there will be more chance for us to win this year.” Harc Pro Honda, third in 2005 have retained the services of Tetsuya Yasuda with Yoshiteru Konishi replacing Haruchika Aoki in the squad. Sakurai Honda will look to the combination of Chojun Kameya and Yoichi Takeda to bring victory to the team. They will be backed-up by Yukio Nukumi and Kazuma Tsuda. The Honda teams face stiff opposition from several quarters, chief among the strong Yamaha teams, the ever-fast Yoshimura Suzuki and Kawasaki. Yamaha have entered Nori Haga and Colin Edwards on the Yamaha. Blue machine. The two men were the youngest ever pairing to win the prestigious race with victory in 1996. Since then Honda have dominated the race but the Japanese American partnership has the talent and determination to beat anybody on their day. The other fast Yamaha pairings is the race will be Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Shinichi Nakatomi, and the very experienced Norihiko Fujiwara teamed with Masayuki Osaki. Yoshimura Suzuki will field the fast pairing of Atsushi Watanabe and Nobuatsu Aoki. The Yoshimura squad gave Honda a difficult time at the Suzuka 300km race and will be a serious threat to the fortunes of HRC on Sunday. Kawasaki have placed their hopes in the hands of Ryuji Tsuruta, a former Japanese Champion and the equally fast Naoki Matsudo. The race promises to be one of the most competitive Suzuka 8 Hours contest of recent years with little chance of delivering a run-away victor.