Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

F.C.C. TSR Zip-FM Racing Team’s Shinichi Itoh, 36, rode his Bridgestone-tired, Honda CBR954RR-powered prototype to pole position for the 26th Suzuka 8-Hours Saturday during the Special Stage superpole session.

After promoting his team from fifth to first with a lap of 2:07.552, Itoh told reporters his performance was better than he expected. From a translation provided by Suzuka Circuit staff, Itoh said he felt his current role as a test rider for Bridgestone allowed him to make the perfect tire choice for Saturday afternoon’s Special Stage session. The two-time race winner would not reveal anything about his team’s tire strategy for the race but did say the team was having trouble getting a consistent fuel mileage reading from its X-Formula machine.

Itoh’s last 8-Hours race win came in 1998, but he finished second in 2001 behind Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards.

British Superbike regular and MotoGP fill-in rider Yukio Kagayama turned a 2:07.655 on his JSB class, Dunlop-equipped Yoshimura Suzuki GP1 Daxim GSX-R1000 in the earlier Attack Stage, giving his partner Atsushi Watanabe, who will start the race for the team, the second spot on the grid.

Kagayama said he lost some time due to a couple of mistakes, which he regrets, but he said traveling across the world racing for the last eight weeks straight has worn him out. Still, Kagayama hopes to bring Suzuki its first 8-Hours win since 1983.

Kenz JTrust Mojo Suzuki’s Keiichi Kitagawa did a 2:07.754 on his Dunlop-shod, JSB-spec GSX-R1000 in the Jump-up phase of the Special Stage to qualify third. Kitagawa, a regular JSB1000 competitor in the All-Japan Road Race Series, said his 8-Hours bike is very similar to his normal racebike, but a fever had slowed his progress through practice, especially through the “East part” of the Suzuka Circuit.

Kitagawa’s teammate, World Supersport regular Katsuaki Fujiwara, said the GSX-R600 he usually rides is completely different from the 8-Hours bike, and he is forced to ride opposite from the way he normally does. Fujiwara also pointed out to reporters that he hasn’t ridden at Suzuka in three years and hasn’t raced the 8-Hours since 1998. As a result, his goal will be to support Kitawawa.

When asked about the surprise 10-tire limitation, most riders with the top three teams refrained from making a comment, but Kagayama spoke out, saying 10 sets of tires is not enough. According to a translator, Kagayama said Honda was in a good position with the tire rules thanks to testing at the circuit, but his team was having troubles. “Those that have tire data will be OK, but those with no data or who do not ride in Japan might have trouble. Tires on the 1000cc bikes lose grip quickly and slide a lot,” Kagayama was reported as saying.

The riders were also asked about the changes to the Casio Triangle chicane since Daijiro Kato’s fatal accident there in the April 2003 MotoGP race. Itoh said he didn’t feel a big change but said the new chicane was not easy. Apparently, the wall on rider’s left bothers him. “It feels like it is very close,” said Itoh through a translator . “They have widened it (the area between the chicane and the wall) but it is not enough.”

Kagayama then said there are a lot of dangerous curves in foreign tracks, especially in England where he says there are far too many dangerous tracks. “If all these people who are here today were to ride in England they would probably boycott and not ride because it is too dangerous,” said Kagayama, through the translator.

Nicky Hayden out-did his Seven Stars Honda 11 teammate Ryuichi Kiyonari in the Special Stage, but Hayden’s 2:08.711 was only good enough for sixth on the grid. Hayden said he had problems in the Special Stage warm-up session and the two-hour wait from the warm-up until he, the last rider, went on track also did not help. But Hayden said the biggest factors in his less-than-hoped-for performance were his mistakes.

“I was a little bit nervous before Superpole because we had a little bit of problems (in practice). Before I went out, they (his team) were, ‘be careful, be careful,’ because they wanted me to get a time,” Hayden told Roadracingworld.com. “I guess I rode a little bit tight. I got a little slide coming out of the hairpin; I got out of the seat there. It was a pretty clean lap, but I broke too early for turn one. Actually, I broke quite early for turn one. After that I got into a rhythm. I was down at the first split, but I was pretty close after that.”

Hayden said the reason he went quicker Friday morning three laps into official practice than he did on his Special Stage lap was related to tires. “We had two race tires,” said Hayden. “The race tire I did my best time on, the 2:07.3, I like it a little bit better for the race, but it’s a little hard and doesn’t come in as quick as this one.”

Hayden also said his Honda RC51 was in full race trim with a light fuel load for his Special Stage lap. When asked why his team didn’t reprogram the Honda’s engine management system for full performance instead of fuel mileage for the Jump-Up Stage, Hayden said, “We never even talked about it. It was never brought up.”

Corona Extra TiForce Endurance team held on to its 13th starting spot during the Special Stage. Attack Stage rider Anthony Gobert was very happy with his 2:09.921 lap despite a small mistake when he ran wide in Spoon Curve. Gobert’s mistake, however, was smaller than teammate Adam Fergusson’s miscue exiting the hairpin during the Jump-up Stage.

“I just lit it up and tossed it sideways, and that burned up a load of time,” said Fergusson. “Oh, well. Anthony got us a good time and put us fairly close to the front. It’s an 8-hour race anyway. Starting six or seven positions further up isn’t going to change the outcome. I’m just disappointed because I wanted to see how fast I could really go.”

Combined Special Stage Results:

1. F.C.C. TSR Zip-FM Racing Team, Honda CBR954RR, XF1, S. Itoh, 2:07.552

2. Kenz JTrust Mojo Suzuki, Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, K. Kitagawa, 2:07.655

3. Yoshimura Suzuki GP1 Daxim, Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, A. Watanabe, 2:07.754

4. Seven Stars Honda 7, Honda RC51, SB, T. Ukawa, 2:08.433

5. Masked Rider 555 Honda, Honda CBR954RR, JSB, Y. Takahashi, 2:08.598

6. Seven Stars Honda 11, Honda RC51, SB, N. Hayden, 2:08.711

7. Team Sakurai Honda 74, Honda RC51, SB, T. Okada, 2:08.730

8. Team Cha-llenger, Yamaha YZF-R1, JSB, T. Kayo, 2:08.893

9. YSP & Presto Racing, Yamaha YZF-R1, JSB, S. Nakatomi, 2:09.108

10. F.C.C. TSR, Honda CBR954RR, JSB, Y. Konishi, 2:09.474

11. Team Sakurai Honda 71, Honda RC51, SB, Y. Nukumi, 2:09.523

12. Garfield RSK, Suzuki GSX-R1000, XF1, H. Kobayashi, 2:09.823

13. Corona Extra TiForce Endurance, Suzuki GSX-R1000, XF1, A. Gobert, 2:09.921

14. Weider ATS DDBoys, Honda CBR954RR, JSB, O. Deguchi, 2:09.953

15. Wins Factory & Vega Sports, Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, H. Kawase, 2:10.096

16. Alpha OMC Racing Supply, Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, A. Tamitsuji, 2:10.229

17. Moriwaki Motul Racing, Honda CBR954RR, XF1, M. Okuno, 2:10.730

18. RS-Itoh & Kaze, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, SB, I. Higashimura, 2:10.770

19. Club Yamaha Motorcycle Racing, Yamaha YZF-R1/7, XF1, M. Tokinaga, 2:11.682

20. Team Etching Factory 15, Yamaha YZF-R1, XF1, K. Hasegawa, 2:12.627

More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service:

YOSHIMURA SUZUKI SECURE SECOND GRID

After the official practice of the 2003 Suzuka 8 Hours that was held on 31 July, the teams were timed to be qualified on 1st August. The top 20 qualified teams took part in the Superpole today. Two SUZUKI GSX-R1000 teams, YOSHIMURA and KENZ, showed brilliant performances in the past three days. YOSHIMURA took the second grid and KENZ took the third grid for the final race.

Under heavy muggy weather just like in past years, each team has now completed final machine settings and official qualifying. A new regulation this year allows every team to use a maximum of 10 tyres throughout the event starting from official qualifying to the final race.

YOSHIMURA SUZUKI rider, Yukio KAGAYAMA, has been regularly participating in the British Superbike
Championship this year and Atsushi WATANABE, title holder of 2002 All Japan Superbike Championship on a YOSHIMURA-made JSB machine that debuted this week, netted good times.

WATANABE recorded 2:07.540 which was the second quickest of the day.

The KENZ machine has been ridden by Katsuaki FUJIWARA, a regular rider of World Super Sports, and Keiichi KITAGAWA who has won three races out of four of the All Japan Championship. KITAGAWA was fast enough to qualify for the Super Pole with the ninth quickest time, 2:09.254.

In the Special Stage, KAGAYAMA (YOSHIMURA SUZUKI) was second with 2:07.655, while KITAGAWA (KENZ) marked the third quickest time which was 2:07.754.

Although it was Shinichi ITO / Takeshi TSUJIMURA riders on the CBR954RR of the Extreme Class that made the top time, the SUZUKI riders also did well for the final race tomorrow with top two quickest times in the JSB class.

Yukio KAGAYAMA (YOSHIMURA SUZUKI) – “It is my first week of riding the YOSHIMURA machine, however; as it has been nicely set-up by WATANABE while I was in England, I am feeling familiar with it. I have been riding for the BSB, WSB and Moto GP for nine weeks. So, physically I feel a bit tired, but have good spirits. I will give it my best, aiming for victory tomorrow.”

Atsushi WATANABE (YOSHIMURA SUZUKI) – “KAGAYAMA and I have been improving in the same team, so we know each other very well with regards to likes and dislikes concerning machine. With our machine that has been finished to a satisfactory level, I would like to complete an 8-hours run without any mistake made, hoping to beat the one and only works team that participates in this event this year.”

BKeiichi KITAGAWA (KENZ SUZUKI) – “Physically I had been in a bad condition until yesterday, but today, I could manage to ride well. With a speedy machine and a reliable partner, I hope to beat the HONDA works team tomorrow and be the first finisher. This is the third year for me in riding the GSX-R1000 for the 8-hours. Surely the best result will be brought to us only if we can complete the race without any mistake made.”

Katsuaki FUJIWARA (KENZ SUZUKI) – “As soon as I finished with the race held at Brands Hatch, I flew to Japan for the Suzuka without taking a rest. I am required to ride the 8-hours machine in a different manner from that for the GSX-R600 I usually ride. The characteristics of the machine today is not the same as that of the GSX-R600. However, I think that my riding style has been adjusted little by little for the 8-hours machine that KITAGAWA has set up. I found my times starting to improve at last. My mission tomorrow is to support KITAGAWA”