Suzuka 8 Hours 2015

The other racing teams, No. 12 Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance and No. 17 Team Kagayama, fell back one after another. No. 778 F.C.C. TSR Honda could not get a break with the timing with the safety car and slowly lost their chances to make up time.

By the halfway point of the race, the Yamaha team that accelerated fast to the top encountered misfortune as they started the fifth hour of the day. They were subjected to a 30-second stop penalty for ignoring the yellow flag. Because of that, No. 778 TSR took the lead, but Smith was able to regain it with an astounding pace. After that, Espargaró and Nakasuga went on with the race brilliantly. Upon worrying about the fuel consumption, they took time at the pit stop at their own pace as they finally just had to refuel it once, then Smith took over the reigns from Nakasuga in the remaining 30 minutes. He was not able to ride in the trial race for the top 10 yesterday so he took the responsibility of the anchor leg, the most important role in a team, and he went on racing aggressively until the end and took the checkered flag at the 204th lap.

For Yamaha, it’s their first win in 19 years since 1996. For Espargaró, who made his debut, and Smith and Nakasuga, who won consecutively three times at the Japan National Road Race Championships, this is their first domination in the Suzuka 8 Hours.

The three of them were filled with excitement as they reunited at the pit road heading towards the Parc fermé. The sound of the newly introduced Yamaha model, the YZF-R1, resounded many times.

No. 778 F.C.C. TSR Honda (Josh Hook, Kyle Smith, & Dominique Aegerter) won second place. They reformed their rider strategy for this year with three young foreign riders. Hook and Aegerter alternately challenged the veteran riders from the Yamaha Factory Team. Even though they only reached second place as a result, both of them showed the same pace in racing. We observed that Hook, who will compete for the All-Japan Road Race Championship, has obviously improved from the season opener, and Aegerter has stood on the winner’s podium for two years in a row. The new TSR went back to the podium after three years.

The dream team of No. 17 Team Kagayama (Yukio Kagayama, Noriyuki Haga, & Ryuichi Kiyonari) won third place this year as well. Particularly, Kiyonari, who came back to Suzuka 8 Hours after two years, played a big part in this team during the qualifying round and the finals. He certainly contributed to the increase in the team’s fighting spirit. Kagayama obtained serious wounds from falling down during the race, but he steadily recovered their rank. In the end, Haga worked as the anchor leg, and he has represented the team on the podium for three consecutive years.

Each manufacturer was making above average efforts for the competition this year, and Yamaha took control of the race. Many fans rushed to the main straight where the awarding ceremony was being conducted. Yamaha was enveloped with cheers. The fireworks concluded the 2015 Suzuka 8 Hours that began on July 23, and the summer festival in Suzuka for this year ended successfully as well.

TOP 10

11. EVA RT Test Type-01 Trick Star (Osamu Deguichi/Hitoyasu Izutsu/Erwan Nigon), Kaw ZX-10R, 199 laps, -22.790 seconds

12. Team Bolliger Switzerland (Roman Stamm/Daniel Sutter/Nicolaus Salchaud), Kaw ZX-10R, 199 laps, -72.833

13. Au&Tetoru Kohara RT (Kazuma Watanabe/Testuta Nagashima/Kosuke Akiyoshi), Hon CBR1000RR, 198 laps

14. TOHO Racing with Moriwaki (Ratthapark Wilairot/Toni Elias/Tatsuya Yamaguichi), Hon CBR1000RR, 198 laps, -57.391 seconds

15. CONFIA Flex Motorrad 39 (Shinya Takeishi/Takatoshi Ohnishi/Daisaku Sakai), BMW S1000RR, 197 laps

18. Satu HATI Honda Team Asia (Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman/Dimas Ekky Pratama/Ratthapong Wilairot), Hon CBR1000RR, 195 laps

48. Honda Dream RT Sakurai Honda (Troy Herfoss/Jason O’Halloran/Naomichi Uramoto), Hon CBR1000RR, 157 laps

64. Team SRC Kawasaki (Gregory Leblanc/Matthieu Lagrive/Fabien Foret), Kaw ZX-10R, 102 laps

65. BMW Motorrad France Team Penz13.com (Markus Reiterberger/Tommy Bridewell/Bastien Mackels), BMW S1000RR, 75 laps

68. MuSASHI RT HARC-PRO (Takumi Takahashi/Michael van der Mark/Casey Stoner), Hon CBR1000RR, 31 laps

69. Monster Energy Yamaha – YART (Broc Parkes/Ivan Silva/Sheridan Morais), Yam YZF-R1), 10 laps