My name is Harry, I am from Taiwan and I work for Webike China. This time, I will be taking part in the Motegi 7 Hours Endurance Road Race (Mote Tai), which will be held at Motegi Mobility Resort in 2025, together with our company's team, the Webike Endurance Team. This will be my first motorcycle endurance race, my third motorcycle race, and my first motorcycle race in Japan. In this article, I will introduce how I qualified to participate, the characteristics of Japanese races, and the appeal of the Motegi 7 Hours Endurance Race from a foreigner's perspective.
I'm Harry from Taiwan, and I work for Webike China.I participated in the "Mote Tai" event held from the 31st.
Eligibility for foreign amateur riders to participate in the Motegi 7 Hours
First, as with any race, you need to understand the necessary conditions and licenses stipulated by each race. The condition for participating in the Motegi 7 Hours Endurance Road Race is to possess a racing license for the relevant year issued by MFJ (Motorcycle Sports Association of Japan). However, if you try to obtain an MFJ license directly in Japan, you must be Japanese or have a Japanese residence status, which was not possible for me.
Another way is to transfer (change sports nationality) using an FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) license obtained in another country and switch to an MFJ license. This will allow you to participate in the Motegi 7 Hours Endurance Road Race. However, this method requires you to abandon the FIM license of your original country. If you want to participate in races in the country (region) where your original license was issued, you need to apply for a "No Objection Letter" from the association to which you are transferring (in this case, MFJ). To put it simply in my example, if the transfer is successful, you will be a "Japanese rider" instead of a "Taiwanese rider" in 2025. If you want to participate in local races in Taiwan, you must ask MFJ to issue you a No Objection Letter.
In addition to the MFJ license, riders who are participating to Motegi 7 Hours Endurance Road Race for the first time or after a long time must participate in at least one official practice session for safety reasons. Before this year, I did not have an FIM license, so I was unable to obtain an MFJ license by transfer before the last official practice session of the three sessions. Therefore, I additionally participated in the "Motegi Circuit Beginner's Course" and first obtained membership in MCoM (Mobility Resort Motegi). After that, I participated in one official test, and finally obtained my MFJ license about two weeks before the race, which made my participation in the Motegi 7 Hours Endurance Road Race a reality.
Feelings about being able to race in Japan
It was like a dream to be able to race in Japan. I believe that many riders who grew up in other Asian countries and loved racing from a childhood feel the same way I do. When I was a child, I paid particular attention to the MotoGP and F1 Japanese Grand Prix broadcasts. It was because I felt a sense of familiarity with the Japanese people, not as far away as Europe or America, and because I felt a sense of familiarity when I saw the same Asian faces. I especially cheered when Japanese or other Asian riders were participating in the race. That's why it was a dream come true for me to be able to participate in the 7-hour endurance race at the same Motegi Circuit where MotoGP is also held.
Characteristics of Japanese races that I noticed after actually participating
However, when I actually participated, I discovered many unexpected things. Due to the nature of the race being an endurance race, there was less of a brutal atmosphere like in a sprint race, and everyone seemed to be participating in a gathering. Many teams set up tents in the paddock pit area and started cooking various foods. Especially at lunchtime, walking through the pit area felt like a campsite, with the delicious smell of food wafting everywhere, and everyone seemed relaxed and happy.
Another thing that was very impressive was the wide range of ages of the participants. The youngest participant was 15 years old, and the oldest was probably over 60 years old. The sight of three generations of young, middle-aged, and elderly people competing on the same circuit is probably something that can only be seen in endurance races.
Another interesting thing about the Motegi 7 Hours Endurance Road Race is that you can visit the Honda Collection Hall during your free time. I happened to visit during a break in the rain on Friday and Saturday.
About the race
A total of 66 motorcycles were entered into the 2025 Motegi 7 Hours Endurance Road Race in three moto classes, WT, JP, and NST, which were divided based on various regulations. Each class has different modification rules and pit stop times, allowing various motorcycles models to compete on as equal a playing field as possible.
The weather was very unstable for this year's race. The schedule was free practice on Friday, qualifying on Saturday, and the final race on Sunday. However, it rained all day on Friday, and although there were sunny intervals on Saturday, the weather was changeable. On Sunday, light rain started to fall about 10 minutes before the start. At this point, all the teams were using dry tires, and everyone was getting nervous and starting to think of countermeasures.
After the race started, some teams immediately pitted to change to rain tires, but most teams kept their dry tires. The track was wet, but the rain didn't seem to get stronger. After 15 minutes, the rain subsided and the track on the racing line started to dry.
Thirty minutes after the start, the weather finally calmed down and the sun came out for the first time in three days. The race also went very smoothly, with the safety motorcycles never appearing once during the race.
Our JP class had a four-minute pit stop time allotted for refuelling, so we had plenty of time to carry out tasks such as changing riders, refuelling and changing tyres.
However, conditions in endurance racing are always unpredictable. Four hours into the race, our car ran out of gas on the track and the engine stalled. A likely fuel supply issue caused the ECU to go into protection mode, losing the quickshifter function and limiting power to a lower power mode. With an hour and a half remaining, we decided to slow down to save fuel and reduce the number of times we needed to refuel.
In the end, we finished safely in 36th place overall. Strong team support is essential for endurance racing. It requires a strategy, a clear role for each rider and staff member, and the ability to respond quickly to unexpected situations. This is the unique fun of endurance racing, which is completely different from sprint racing.
The Motegi 7 Hours Endurance Road Race has a wide variety of awards. In addition to the most important, the winners of each class, there are also awards for the best livery (machine design), media team, youngest rider, best female rider, and team from the furthest distance. This makes this race a great unity for all motorcycle racing lovers, and everyone can enjoy it to the fullest.
Yasuo Kusuyama (Team Representative and Rider / River Crane Director)
This is my fourth time participating in the Motegi Endurance Race. This ZX-25R will compete in the NST-ZX (standard class) in 2023, but at that time I was injured and had to focus on being a team crew member, and finally I was able to participate as a rider. This time, we entered the JP class, which allows the wheel size to be optimally replaced, so the pit stop time was long and it was difficult to aim for the top with this machine, which has low fuel consumption, but regardless of the result, it was a fun experience including the machine construction, practice sessions, strategy meetings the night before, and spending time in the paddock with my fellow helpers.
By the way, do you know the number 11 [Kawasaki Webike TRICKSTAR] that will compete in the World Endurance Championship? Driving a green 4-cylinder that pays homage to this machine, the team members feel like they are in the Suzuka 8 Hours. We also aimed for a KWT-like appearance. It's fun to do that kind of playfulness seriously.
Result
Webike Endurance Team Number 11
Category: JP Class
Machine: ZX-25R
Riders: 4
Koki Shinano (President of River Crane)
Takuya Jin (Director of Rivercrane)
Yasuo Kusuyama (Director of Rivercrane)
Harry Chen (Webike Taiwan Employee, Webike CHINA Manager)
Number of Entries: 59
Qualifying ranking: 25th overall / 8th out of 12 in the JP Class
7-hour final result: 36th overall / 6th in JP class, 156 Laps
Click here for official information about Mobility Resort Motegi "Mote-Tai"!
Mote Endurance: https://www.mr-motegi.jp/motetai/
