Duel Between Suzuki and Yamaha GMT 94 at the Bol d’Or Kawasaki Out of the Race The Suzuki 2 of SERT is leading the 71st Bol d’Or at Magny-Cours this morning. The GSX-R ridden by William Costes, Guillaume Dietrich and Max Neukirchner, which won the 24 Hours Moto in Le Mans last April, has led the race since early evening yesterday after Suzuki 1 crashed out after several hours as leaders of the race. The game is certainly not over yet for Suzuki 2 with the Yamaha GMT 94 in pursuit just seconds behind the Yamaha squad made a rapid surge to the front of the pack after Olivier Four’s crash at around 17 :00 hours (16 :00 hours GMT) yesterday. The Yamaha GMT 94 tried to take the lead throughout the night but the Suzuki 2 held on to its lead regardless. The Suzuki 1 ridden by Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien Da Costa made significant progress during the night after Julien Da Costa’s fall but remains at least ten laps behind the two leading machines. The most unfortunate contenders of this year’s Bol d’Or are unquestionably the official Kawasaki teams. The Kawasaki 1 and 111 were forced to retire during the night with mechanical problems after a difficult race start littered with falls for the 111 and an oil leak for the 11, both of which cost them a lot of time. The QMMF Endurance World Championship will reach its conclusion this morning. With the retirement of the Kawasaki 11, currently second in the overall standings, the Suzuki 1 and its 32-point advantage is now enough to claim the 2007 World Championship title for the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team ahead of the last race, the Doha 8 Hours which takes place in Qatar in November. The final chase for the world championship has made this race one of high drama and tension. The incredibly close fight for the world championship title between the Suzuki 1 and the Kawasaki France 11, along with the warm weather and a dry track, has visibly ‘hotted up’ the efforts of the contenders. There have been plenty of falls and collisions. The permanent teams are not the only ones to have suffered from incidents. The Yamaha Austria Racing Team, third behind the two Suzukis who led at 19 :00 hours (18 :00 hours GMT), suffered a broken engine. The Honda RMT 21, which had got itself into a good tenth place, was forced to retire with clutch problems. The Honda FCC TSR Eurosport Benelux dropped out with brake problems. The Yamaha Zone Rouge Belgique pulled out of the race at 18 :00 hours yesterday after two crashes and a broken cylinder head gasket. Maco Moto Racing team also dropped out with a mechanical breakage. A broken engine also forced the Kawasaki Qatar Endurance Racing Team to retire in the early hours of this morning. With the end of the race in sight the duel at Magny-Cours between the Suzuki 2 and the Yamaha GMT will conclude at 15 :00 hours (14 :00 hours GMT) this afternoon.