[SUZUKI] Suzuka 8 Hours Final: YOSHIMURA SUZUKI Shell ADVANCE win the third prize

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* Sunday July 31, 2016
* Suzuka 8 hours FIM Endurance World Championship, Final
* Place: Suzuka Circuit, Mie Prefecture

#17 Kiyonari gets the holeshot, #12 Tsuda follows

On the day of the final race, in a 45-minute free riding period from 8:30 in the morning, the last setup is carried out toward the final race starting at 11:30. It comfortably cleared up from morning and the free riding period started in a comfortable condition with a temperature of 28 degree Celsius and a road surface temperature of 37 degree Celsius.

The last time in this session were: #12 was the 5th with a time of 2'09.341, #17 was the 6th with a time of 2'09.668, and #1 was the 15th with a time of 2'12.471.

The race started at 11:30 on time. It was #17 Kiyonari who made an outstanding start. He first enters the first corner and draw the followings away, returning to the front of the main stand leading the second rider by 0.5 seconds. #12 Tsuda comes up to the second place. SUZUKI team passes the opening lap with the first and the second. Kiyonari keeps pace and holds the first place, while Tsuda has difficulty gathering pace. Tsuda is losing his position to the 3rd, again to the 4th.

Accidents occur one after another in SUZUKI team

In the 18th lap, #21 Nakasuga who runs in the second overtakes #17 Kiyonari. Kiyonari holds the second place and takes a pit stop after 26 laps. Kiyonari hands his machine to Kagayama, but trouble of the stand occurs and the tire exchange takes some time. #17 wasted 1 min. 30 sec. and lost his position to the 6th. #12 Tsuda also takes a pit stop after 26 laps. Brookes takes over from Tsuda and runs in the third place.

At 12:43. #1 Anthony receives a stop & go penalty. He did a jump start and took an irregular pit stop, then wasted 30 sec.

In the 52th lap, #17 Kagayama largely slows down and falls to the 2 min. 22 sec. level. The front tire seems to go flat, so Kagayama takes an urgent pit stop. He largely lost his position and is forced to catch up the front.

At 13:39. #1 Vincent falls in an exit at the first Degner corner. He started again but the rear tire is flat. From the moment that the machine returned to the pit, the team started to restore the machine at an incredible speed. At 13:56, the team finished restoring #1 in 20 minutes after the turnover and sent off the machine to the course. Its quick pit work gets a big hand from the audience.

SUZUKI gradually recovering its position

"In the 76th lap, at 14:15 after 2 hours 45 minutes since the start, the second runner #634 stops.
The third runner #12 Haga automatically becomes the second; #32 which has raised the position to the fifth becomes the fourth."

Due to the pit stop timing, #12 loses the position to the third. Tsuda who took over from #12 Haga runs after the front in 2 min. 9-plus seconds. Tsuda once drew away from the front, but he gradually regains pace and passes the front runner at the hairpin in the 102th lap; he recaptures the second position.

#32 raised its position to the fourth, however, both #7 YAMAHA and #1 KAWASAKI are catching up, the three machines are running with changing their positions each other.

It comes to the 6th stint from the 5th stint. #12 Haga and #87 KAWASAKI, the both battled hand to hand in the previous stint, run tail to nose again. KAWASAKI goes first at 130R, then #12 Haga overtakes KAWASAKI again in a chicane. In the next lap, KAWASAKI goes first in a chicane, then #12 Haga jumps into the inside at the first corner and gains the lead.

In this battle, KAWASAKI gets a 2 min. 8 sec. level, while #12 Haga runs at an incredible speed with a lap time of 2 min. 9.0 sec. A tense lap continues. Behind them, #01 KAWASAKI and #32 Aoki battle hand to hand. A competitive fight for the 5th place goes on. Our team's pace is between 2 min. 12 sec. and 13 sec. Four hours have passed. While the surface temperature of the road is decreasing, the speed of the top group is increasing and the race is becoming a high-speed battle.

#87 KAWASAKI takes a pit stop first, then #12 Haga takes a pit stop second after 164 laps. Here, the position becomes the third again.

#17 Kagayama shows intense catch-up in the closing stage

#17 that has steadily kept running raises its position to the single digits, then it becomes the 7th in the 186th lap and takes a pit stop in the 190th lap. The machine is left to Kagayama. In the fight for the fifth place, #17 Konno runs in a steady speed and pulls away from #01 KAWASAKI; he runs this position alone.

30 minutes to go. #12 Brookes in the 3rd, #32 Waters in the 5th, #17 Kagayama in the 7th and #1 Vincent in the 26th. They run toward the finish line.

When it comes to the last 5 minutes, #17 Kagayama runs as fast as 2 min. 11-plus sec. He comes close to #01 KAWASAKI and finally overtakes it in the 212th lap, raising the position to the 6th. The 5th runner #32 Waters runs 25 sec. ahead.

At 19:30:40, the top runner crossed the line. #12 Brookes crossed the line in the 3rd position, #32 Waters in the 5th, #17 Kagayama in the 6th, and #1 Vincent in the 23rd.

→ Read the full article (*Japanese)

Original Source [ SUZUKI ] (*Japanese)

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