Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Atsushi Watanabe raced to third position in the opening round of the All Japan Superbike Championship at Twinring, Motegi after the race was red-flagged due to rain. GSX-R1000-mounted Watanabe and team mate Kousuke Akiyoshi led from the start and held strong lead when the race was stopped on the 12th lap. But on the 8-lap restart, Watanabe gated a lowly eighth and Akiyoshi slid off the track on lap five. Said Watanabe: “Today I raced the ST600 Superbike classes but I don’t feel tired. The Yoshimura GSX-R is so fast and my first Bridgestone tyres worked very well, but I would like to win the next round and I hope for a Yoshimura’s GSX-R one-two finish.” Results: 1: Akira Yanagawa (Kawasaki) 2: Osamu Deguchi (Honda) 3: Atsuishi Watanabe (Yoshimura Suzuki) 4: Kazuki Tokudome (Honda) 5: Katsuyuki Nakasuga (Yamaha) 6: Yoshiyuki Sugai (Ducati) 7: Chojun Kameya (Honda) 8: Hiroyuki Kawese (Suzuki) 9: Yoshiteru Konishi (Honda) 10: Shin-ichi Itoh (Honda).