Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Seven Stars Honda’s Nicky Hayden was the fastest rider in timed qualifying Friday morning at the Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan. Hayden turned his fast time, 2:07.312, on his third lap of the day aboard his works Honda RC51 before using the rest of the morning working on race set-up and fuel mileage calculations.

Hayden said the JSB-spec Suzuki GSX-R1000s of teams like Yoshimura Suzuki GP1 Daxim and Kenz JTrust Mojo Suzuki were much faster than his Honda on the straights, but he believes they are having tire life issues. Tires, however, are somewhat of an issue for everyone as teams are limited by rule to 10 sets of marked tires from the start of official practice Friday morning through the end of the race.

Qualifying takes place all day Friday with separate sessions for “A,” “B” and substitute riders. The top 20 teams at the end of Friday qualify for Saturday’s Special Stage, a session very similar to World Superbike Superpole. The remaining 46 teams of the 66-rider-maximum grid will start from positions earned Friday, provided they turn a time within 115 percent of the Friday’s fastest qualifying time.

Tires used in the Special Stage do not count against a team’s allocated 10 sets of tires.

Group A Qualifying Times Friday Session 1:

1. Seven Stars Honda 11 (N. Hayden), Honda RC51, SB, 2:07.312

2. Yoshimura Suzuki GP1 Daxim (A. Watanabe), Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, 2:07.540

3. Seven Stars Honda 7 (T. Ukawa), Honda RC51, SB, 2:08.178

4. Masked Rider 555 Honda (T. Yamaguchi), Honda CBR954RR, JSB, 2:09.255

5. F.C.C. TSR (Y. Konishi), Honda CBR954RR, JSB, 2:09.718

6. Garfield RSK (H. Kobayashi), Suzuki GSX-R1000, XF1, 2:10.579

7. F.C.C. TSR Zip-FM Racing Team (T. Tsujimura), Honda CBR954RR, XF1, 2:10.929

8. Team Challenger (N. Fujiwara), Yamaha YZF-R1, JSB, 2:10.939

9. Wins Factory & Vega Sports (H. Kawase), Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, 2:10.948

10. Moriwaki Motul Racing (M. Okuno), Honda CBR954RR, XF1, 2:11.150


13. Corona Light TiForce Endurance (J. Szoke), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SP, 2:12.794


17. Zongshen Suzuki 2 (I. Jerman), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SP, 2:13.421


Group B Qualifying Times Friday Session 1:

1. YSP & Presto Racing (S. Nakatomi), Yamaha YZF-R1, JSB, 2:09.107

2. Kenz JTrust Mojo Suzuki (K. Kitagawa), Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, 2:09.254

3. Alpha OMC Racing Supply (A. Tamitsuji), Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, 2:09.996

4. Team Sakurai Honda 74 (C. Kameya), Honda RC51, SB, 2:10.115

5.Team Sakurai Honda 71 (Y. Nukumi), Honda RC51, SB, 2:10.118

6. Club Yamaha Motorcycle Racing (M. Tokinaga), Yamaha YZF-R1, XF1, 2:10.795

7. Weider Honda ATS DDBoys (O. Deguchi), Honda CBR954RR, JSB, 2:10.815

8. Honda Sofukai Suzuka Racing Team (T. Arakawa), Honda RC51, SB, 2:11.348

9. Zongshen Suzuki 1 (W. Nowland), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SP, 2:11.411

10.Corona Extra TiForce Endurance (A. Fergusson), Suzuki GSX-R1000, XF1, 2:11.819

11. Suzuki GB Phase One (J. Pridmore), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SP, 2:12.428


17. Moto Liberty Arata-EX & Kiss-FM (D. Polen), Honda CBR954RR, XF1, 2:13.842*

*Fined 1000 Swiss Francs “for non-respect of the black flag with orange disc.”


Group A Qualifying Times Friday Session 2:

1. Yoshimura Suzuki GP1 Daxim (Y. Kagayama), Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, 2:08.704

2. Team Cha-llenger (T. Kayo), Yamaha YZF-R1, JSB, 2:08.864

3. Seven Stars Honda 7 (H. Izutsu), Honda RC51, SB, 2:09.446

4. F.C.C. TSR Zip-FM Racing Team (S. Itoh), Honda CBR954RR, XF1, 2:09.727

5. Seven Stars Honda 11 (N. Hayden), Honda RC51, SB, 2:09.939

6. Masked Rider 555 Honda (Y. Takahashi), Honda CBR954RR, JSB, 2:10.162

7. Heat Magic By Wins Factory (T. Yoshida), Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, 2:10.743

8. Wins Factory & Vega Sports (K. Teramoto), Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, 2:11.456

9. Team Nobunaga Ramen (M. Furusawa), Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, 2:12.172

10. Clever Wolf Racing Team (T. Fukami), Yamaha YZF-R1/7, XF1, 2:12.317


13. Moriwaki Motul Racing (R. Tsuruta), Honda CBR954RR, XF1, 2:13.967


16. Corona Light TiForce Endurance (P. Young), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SP, 2:14.408


21. Zongshen Suzuki 2 (B. Bonhuil), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SP, 2:16.002


38. Spec-A Yamamoto Racing (M. Lane), Honda CB1300SF, XF2, 2:23.473


Group B Qualifying Times Friday Session 2:

1. Team Sakurai Honda 74 (T. Okada), Honda RC51, SB, 2:09.413

2. Kenz JTrust Mojo Suzuki (K. Fujiwara), Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, 2:09.428

3. YSP & Presto Racing (W. Yoshikawa), Yamaha YZF-R1, JSB, 2:10.127

4. Team Sakurai Honda 71 (G. Kamada), Honda RC51, SB, 2:10.693

5. Weider Honda ATS DDBoys (H. Aoki), Honda CBR954RR, JSB, 2:10.736

6. Alpha OMC Racing Supply (Y. Konno), Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, 2:10.813

7. Team Etching Factory 15 (K. Hasegawa), Yamaha YZF-R1, XF1, 2:11.677

8. Honda Sofukai Suzuka Racing Team (K. Matsushita), Honda RC51, SB, 2:11.730

9. Zongshen Suzuki 1 (S. Mertens), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SP, 2:12.789

10. Team Hashimotogumi (T. Kawakami), Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, 2:12.851

11. Corona Extra TiForce Endurance (A. Gobert), Suzuki GSX-R1000, XF1, 2:13.339*

12. Team 22 & Tsukigi Racing (T. Kishida), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SP, 2:14.180


15. Moto Liberty Arata-EX & Kiss-FM (Y. Sugai), Honda CBR954RR, XF1, 2:14.402

16. Suzuki GB Phase One (J. Ellison), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SP, 2:14.647

* Fined 250 Swiss Francs for exceeding pit lane speed limit.