Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
By David Swarts
Vesrah Suzuki’s Mark Junge tested at Japan’s Motegi Twin-ring racetrack earlier this month.
Junge won the 2001 WERA National Endurance Championship (with co-riders Chris Ulrich, Tray Batey and Glenn Szarek) along with 2001 WERA Open Superstock and 600cc Superstock sprint Championships, then made his annual trip to Japan to have sponsorship meetings for the 2002 season. This year the trip included something extra.
“The GSX-R1000 that I rode to the Championship is going to go on the motorcycle show circuit and tour Japan,” said Junge by phone from Japan. “The plan is that I may come back here next season to race in the 7-hour Japanese National Endurance race at Motegi. It’s not as well known worldwide as the Suzuka 8-hour, but it’s very big in Japan and getting bigger. The bike was coming here anyway, so Vesrah arranged this test.”
Both of Junge’s two, 30-minute sessions at Motegi were in the rain. “We didn’t get a lot of information from the test, but it was still great,” said Junge. “That place is just beautiful! It’s the best racetrack that I’ve ever been on by far.”