Resident Redneck
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Suzuka 8hrs **Results***
The FCC Technical Sports Racing team of Shinichi Ito and Takeshi Tsujimura successfully converted their pole position into victory in the 29th Suzuka 8 Hours, round five of the FIM world endurance championship.
The pair completed 214 laps on their Honda, beating the record of 210 for the current circuit configuration.
“I’m very happy and relieved,” said Tsujimura. “I had so much trouble in the past at this race. I’m so happy to finish on top today. In the past I often thought of quitting because nothing went well. Now this has given me a lot of confidence.”
“This is like a dream,” said Ito. “For the last three years I’ve suffered. I thank FCC and the team very much for holding on and working so hard. I’m almost 40 years old and I’m getting tired – but I will keep racing if I can.”
The victory was the third for Ito and the first for Tsujimura. Ito’s two previous victories were in 1997 and ’98 as a factory Honda rider. Though Ito and Tsujimura rode a Honda, the FCC TSR team is completely independent of Honda Motor Company and Honda Racing Corporation. It was the first overall victory for FCC TSR in 19 attempts.
The win gave Honda their tenth consecutive 8 Hours victory and their 21st in the history of the event.
Toy Story Racing had an equally flawless though not as fast race to finish second. Riders Takashi Yasuda and Yoshiteru Konishi finished one minute, 9.459 seconds behind FCC and wore racing suits styled after Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear. Their Honda was painted in matching colors and featured the best parts from HRC’s toy box.
“Right now I have both happy and sad tears,” said Konishi on the podium. “It feels like a dream. It’s unbelieveable to be this close to first place. This was a very important race to me. I’m motivated to do better in the future. I’m so happy that the fans supported me during the race.”
“This is a dream for me, too,” agreed Yasuda. “Riding with Konishi is fantastic and I really thank Konishi for being a mentor. Last year we were third, this year we are second, so maybe next year we will win. We are aiming for first.”
One minute off from Toy Story Racing and finishing third were Atsushi Watanabe and Nobuatsu Aoki on the Yoshimura Suzuki. Like second place Toy Story, Yoshimura did not make any errors in the race but right from the start they lacked the absolute pace to stay with the leaders.
“I was not feeling good during the race, physically,” said Watanabe. “But when I was on the track I saw a lot of Yoshimura fans and that really motivated me. I will try better next year.”
“This was a very long and hard race – and very hot,” said Aoki. “I nearly fainted after I came back to the pits. I was so hot and tired. I’m so happy now that we finished the race. This is the first time I’ve been on the podium in the 8 Hours.”
Aoki surprised his girlfriend, Kazuko, with a marriage proposal from the podium.
The top three teams all used Bridgestone tires. It was Bridgestone’s first victory in the Suzuka 8 Hours.
The two Seven Stars sponsored HRC teams finished in fourth and fifth place, one lap down from the podium teams. The better of the two teams was Tadayuki Okada and Osuma Deguchi. Ryuichi Kiyonari and Makoto Tamada had troubles twice with the front tire that forced Kiyonari to make unplanned pit stops for new tires.
Yamaha Austria Racing Team finished tenth overall but first relative to the other FIM championship teams. YART cut the points gap to championship leader Suzuki Castrol from 44 to 19 with two 24 hour races left to run. Suzuki Castrol crashed three times in the race after having a near perfect season in 2006.
Colin Edwards was the lone American in the race. Edwards retired on the fifth lap when the engine died as he was hustling his blue Yamaha to make up time lost from an accident with another rider at the hairpin on the opening lap.
Special Stage Results
1. T.Tsujimura/ S.Ito, Honda, 214 laps.
2. Y.Konishi/T.Yasuda, Honda, -1:09.459.
3. A.Watanabe/N.Aoki, Suzuki, -2:11.149.
4. T.Okada/O.Deguchi, Honda, -1 lap.
5. R.Kiyonari/M.Tamada, Honda, -1 lap.
6. T.Yamaguchi/K.Tokudome, Honda, -3 laps.
7. Y.Sugai/J.Brookes, Honda, -6 laps
8. N.Matsudo/R.Tsurute, Kawasaki, -6 laps.
9. Y.Teshima/G.Kamada, Honda, - 6 laps.
10. G.Giabbani/I.Jerman/S.Scarnato, Yamaha, -8 laps.
The pair completed 214 laps on their Honda, beating the record of 210 for the current circuit configuration.
“I’m very happy and relieved,” said Tsujimura. “I had so much trouble in the past at this race. I’m so happy to finish on top today. In the past I often thought of quitting because nothing went well. Now this has given me a lot of confidence.”
“This is like a dream,” said Ito. “For the last three years I’ve suffered. I thank FCC and the team very much for holding on and working so hard. I’m almost 40 years old and I’m getting tired – but I will keep racing if I can.”
The victory was the third for Ito and the first for Tsujimura. Ito’s two previous victories were in 1997 and ’98 as a factory Honda rider. Though Ito and Tsujimura rode a Honda, the FCC TSR team is completely independent of Honda Motor Company and Honda Racing Corporation. It was the first overall victory for FCC TSR in 19 attempts.
The win gave Honda their tenth consecutive 8 Hours victory and their 21st in the history of the event.
Toy Story Racing had an equally flawless though not as fast race to finish second. Riders Takashi Yasuda and Yoshiteru Konishi finished one minute, 9.459 seconds behind FCC and wore racing suits styled after Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear. Their Honda was painted in matching colors and featured the best parts from HRC’s toy box.
“Right now I have both happy and sad tears,” said Konishi on the podium. “It feels like a dream. It’s unbelieveable to be this close to first place. This was a very important race to me. I’m motivated to do better in the future. I’m so happy that the fans supported me during the race.”
“This is a dream for me, too,” agreed Yasuda. “Riding with Konishi is fantastic and I really thank Konishi for being a mentor. Last year we were third, this year we are second, so maybe next year we will win. We are aiming for first.”
One minute off from Toy Story Racing and finishing third were Atsushi Watanabe and Nobuatsu Aoki on the Yoshimura Suzuki. Like second place Toy Story, Yoshimura did not make any errors in the race but right from the start they lacked the absolute pace to stay with the leaders.
“I was not feeling good during the race, physically,” said Watanabe. “But when I was on the track I saw a lot of Yoshimura fans and that really motivated me. I will try better next year.”
“This was a very long and hard race – and very hot,” said Aoki. “I nearly fainted after I came back to the pits. I was so hot and tired. I’m so happy now that we finished the race. This is the first time I’ve been on the podium in the 8 Hours.”
Aoki surprised his girlfriend, Kazuko, with a marriage proposal from the podium.
The top three teams all used Bridgestone tires. It was Bridgestone’s first victory in the Suzuka 8 Hours.
The two Seven Stars sponsored HRC teams finished in fourth and fifth place, one lap down from the podium teams. The better of the two teams was Tadayuki Okada and Osuma Deguchi. Ryuichi Kiyonari and Makoto Tamada had troubles twice with the front tire that forced Kiyonari to make unplanned pit stops for new tires.
Yamaha Austria Racing Team finished tenth overall but first relative to the other FIM championship teams. YART cut the points gap to championship leader Suzuki Castrol from 44 to 19 with two 24 hour races left to run. Suzuki Castrol crashed three times in the race after having a near perfect season in 2006.
Colin Edwards was the lone American in the race. Edwards retired on the fifth lap when the engine died as he was hustling his blue Yamaha to make up time lost from an accident with another rider at the hairpin on the opening lap.
Special Stage Results
1. T.Tsujimura/ S.Ito, Honda, 214 laps.
2. Y.Konishi/T.Yasuda, Honda, -1:09.459.
3. A.Watanabe/N.Aoki, Suzuki, -2:11.149.
4. T.Okada/O.Deguchi, Honda, -1 lap.
5. R.Kiyonari/M.Tamada, Honda, -1 lap.
6. T.Yamaguchi/K.Tokudome, Honda, -3 laps.
7. Y.Sugai/J.Brookes, Honda, -6 laps
8. N.Matsudo/R.Tsurute, Kawasaki, -6 laps.
9. Y.Teshima/G.Kamada, Honda, - 6 laps.
10. G.Giabbani/I.Jerman/S.Scarnato, Yamaha, -8 laps.
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Petronas Yamaha?
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Pensacola
Posts: 1,408
Did SPEED have this on ????? or did they have some NASCAR stuff on!
Good up-date BTW
:
Good up-date BTW
:
Resident Redneck
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: On This Forum
Posts: 9,793
There was a live Japanese link on last night, it was posted, sorry you missed it. 
Quote:
Originally Posted by MotoGPracing
Did SPEED have this on ????? or did they have some NASCAR stuff on!
Good up-date BTW:
Good up-date BTW
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