30th July 2006
Team Yoshiharu with K1 Racing has finished an impressive 7th
place in the highly touted Suzuka Eight Hour endurance race held in Japan.
Japanese endurance ace Yoshiyuki Sugai and Josh Brookes
the reigning Australian Superbike and Supersport Champion and current
World Superbike rider put in another super-human effort to put the privateer
Honda CBR1000RR in 7th place overall, ahead of many other fancied teams,
and in 2nd place in their class (X-Formula).
2006 Final Results
With
the work put in by Yuki in the lead up event (see article below: "Road
to Suzuka 8 Hours 300km race"), the team was able to qualify the bike
17th in a field of 70. After the first hour the team was just outside
the top 10 running in a solid 11th place. Come the end of the second
and third hours they were up to position 10, from then on they were 9th
at the 4th hour, 8th at the 5th and then 7th at the end of hour 6.
With
one hour to go, in position 7 and with a comfortable lead on 8th place
they decided to make a push for 6th position. Only being 1 lap down on
the 6th place bike it was worth a shot as they were 3 seconds a lap
quicker. Figuring the rider ahead might sense the challenge and make a
mistake under the pressure they pushed on. Unfortunately nothing came
of the late charge and they crossed the line in a superb 7th place at
the most prestigous road race event of the year.
The
overall event honours were taken by Team F.C.C / TSR with a total of
187 laps of the demanding circuit, 4 laps ahead of Team Yoshiharu / K1
Racing.
After the event Yoshihara, the
team owner announced his retirement from the Suzuka 8hr event, as he is
sadly unable to continue supporting the sport he loves as he is
battling ill health and needs to concentrate on recouperating.
Kazu,
ex World GP mechanic for Kanemoto and Rainey and the man behind K1
Racing recalled how going back to the epicenter of road racing has
rekindled his spirit for the action of world class pit lane.
"It
is an honour to once again work with long time friend Yoshihara in his
20th and last Suzuka 8hr. I am very happy with overall result and very
happy to once again finish well inside the top 10 at the world's
toughest & most prestigious motorcycle road race event. The
pressure is so great and with so much going on I got less than 20 hours
sleep over the 5 days of the event. At the end I was so drained I slept
for almost a day when I got back to Australia."
