Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Seven Stars Honda 11 and Yoshimura Suzuki GP1 Daxim have filed protests with officials at the Suzuka 8-Hours concerning the second-lap crash that put both their teams out of the race.

At approximately 1:30 race time Yoshimura Suzuki GP1 Daxim Team Manager Fujio Yoshimura and Seven Stars Honda Team Manager Koji Nakajima stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the media center and told reporters of their protests against the race.

According to an English translation provided by Suzuka Circuit staff, the team managers felt everyone saw a bike on the first lap oil the track, and on the next lap, four bikes crashed in the oil. The teams are protesting the race because they felt the race should have been stopped for the oil on the track or the number of crashes caused by the oil.

In addition, Honda has filed a second protest because Nicky Hayden was ordered to put his bike on the crash truck even though his intention was to push his bike back to the pits. Once on the crash truck, Seven Stars Honda 11 was disqualified from the race.

The Yoshimura Suzuki GP1 Daxim GSX-R1000 was destroyed in the crash and fire and would not have continued in the race had it not been disqualified.

Neither team manager feel their protests will make a difference in the race, but they hope it will be remembered for the 2004 Suzuka 8-Hours.