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2004 SUZUKA 8 HOURS

27th SUZUKA 8 HOURS

World Endurance Motorcycle Championship:

2004 SCHEDULE:

• SUNDAY, JULY 25, 2004: 27th Suzuka 8 Hour
• SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2004: SUPERPOLE
• FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2004: QUALIFYING

2004 RACE:

• 8 Hour race; 11.30 am to 7.30 pm
• 5.864 km Suzuka circuit owned by Honda
• change of rider/tyres every 50 minutes

2004 RACE RESULT

• FINAL AFTER 8 HOURS:
• 1 Toru Ukawa / Hitoyasu Izutsu, Honda CBR1000RRW , 210 laps
• 2 Atsushi Watanabe / Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1 lap
• 3 Toshiyuki Hamaguchi / Syogo Moriwaki, Honda CBR1000RR +2 laps
• 4 Tatsuya Yamaguchi / Kazuki Tokudome, Honda CBR1000RR +3 laps
• 5 *Police Nationale, Takaharu Kishida / Gwen Giabbani , Honda CBR1000RR
• 6 Sugai, Yamamoto Honda CBR1000RR +5 laps
• 7 Konishi, Yasuda Honda CBR1000RR +6 laps
• 8 *Yamaha GMT94, Costes, Gimbert, Checa, Yamaha YZF-R1 +6 laps
• 9 Okada, Kameya, Honda CBR1000RR
• 10 Arakaki, Ohishi, Honda CBR1000RR
• *world endurance team
• AFTER 6 HOURS:
• 1 Toru Ukawa / Hitoyasu Izutsu, Honda CBR1000RRW
• 2 Atsushi Watanabe / Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki GSX-R1000
• 3 Toshiyuki Hamaguchi / Syogo Moriwaki, Honda CBR1000RR
• 4 Keiichi Kitagawa / Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki GSX-R1000
• 5 Tatsuya Yamaguchi / Kazuki Tokudome, Honda CBR1000RR
• 6 *Police Nationale, Takaharu Kishida / Gwen Giabbani , Honda CBR1000RR
• *world endurance team
• AFTER 4 HOURS:
• 1 Toru Ukawa / Hitoyasu Izutsu, Honda CBR1000RRW
• 2 Atsushi Watanabe / Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki GSX-R1000
• 3 Keiichi Kitagawa / Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki GSX-R1000
• 4 Toshiyuki Hamaguchi / Syogo Moriwaki, Honda CBR1000RR
• 5 Tatsuya Yamaguchi / Kazuki Tokudome, Honda CBR1000RR

PREE RELEASE:

Honda Seven Stars Win Suzuka 8 Hours

The Suzuka 8 Hours Japanese round of the World Endurance Championship has been won by the No.7 Seven Stars Honda of Ukawa and Izutsu. The No.11 Seven Stars Honda led from the start, before being passed by the No.7 Honda, with the No.8 Suzuki and No. 778 FCC TSR close behind. The No.7 Honda then held the lead until the end of the race, a truly impressive feat. Two of the favourite teams went out in the opening hours of the race; the No.11 Seven Stars Honda was crashed by Kamada after only seventeen minutes, and the No.778 FCC TSR Honda was forced to retire after less than two hours on track.

The number 21 Yamaha briefly joined the top three before dropping out of contention, leaving the No.7 Seven Stars Honda, the No.12 Yoshimura Suzuki and the No.8 Kenz Motul Suzuki to stretch away at the front of the pack. This order was maintained until the Kenz Motul Suzuki engine failed in the seventh hour, forcing the team to retire and allowing the No.44 Weider Honda to move up to third place. Fourth place went to the No.4 Masked Rider Honda, and fifth to Honda Police National Tsukigi. Permanent team Endurance Moto 38’s Gwen Giabbani shared the riding of the Police bike with Toru Kishida. Yamaha GMT94 had steadily worked their way through the field to eighth place, making them the first Yamaha across the line.

Yamaha Austria finished in thirteenth place overall. Yamaha Phase One Endurance finished in a solid seventeenth place and Suzuki Castrol - who had looked set for a good result, running in seventh place in the early stages – were able to work their way through back to 35th place after a crash. The results were dominated by Honda CBR1000RR Fireblades, with fourteen filling the top twenty places. Two Suzuki GSX-R1000s and four Yamaha YZF-R1s also made the top twenty.

Rider and Team Quotes
Christophe Guyot, team manager Yamaha GMT94: “We are very happy with our eighth position in the race, and third in the Superbike class. It’s very good for the championship for us. We are a little disappointed not to be able to play against the top teams, but if we are in front of Suzuki Castrol, we are happy.”

David Checa, Yamaha GMT94: “I think the team and the riders understood the race very well. We are so happy to finish in eighth place, and third in the Superbike class is very good for the championship. We have done our best, we are so happy, and I hope we can come back next year and win.”

Mandy Kainz, team manager Yamaha Austria: “I feel great. The atmosphere here is perfect; we’re very happy to finish, and to finish fourth in class gives us some good points. We had some small problems in the race but no big problems; it’s great just to finish here in Japan.”

Russell Benney, team manager Yamaha Phase One Endurance: “Something to smile about at last. We are pleased to get a nice steady result; fifth place in the Superbike class and thirteenth overall – I’m very happy. Moving up in the championship standings is a bonus – back in Europe we’ve got a job to do, andthis will lift the spirits of the team and be a springboard for Oschersleben.”

Shawn Giles, Suzuki Castrol: “It was a great eight hours race. Unfortunately I had a bit of a problem when someone ran into the back of me in the hairpin, and I’m really upset about it because we were in seventh position. There’s not much I can do about it, but I’d like to come back and do it again with Suzuki Castrol; the team is great.”

Anne-Marie Spitz, team manager Police Nationale Tsukigi Honda: “I am too emotional to say anything at the moment, I’m sorry. We have got the same result as last year, but it was much more difficult this time. I am very proud and very happy.”

2004 QUALIFYING

GRID, SUPERPOLE, SAT, JULY 24, 2004:

• 1 Shinichi Ito, Honda CBR1000RR 2m 9.274
• 2 Izutsu, Honda CBR1000RRW +0.527s ; 2m 9.817
• 3 Kamada, CBR1000RRW +0.902s ; 2m 10.176
• 4 Watanabe, Suzuki GSX-R1000
• 5 Konishi, Honda CBR1000RR
• 6 Nakatomi, Yamaha YZF-R1
• 7 Kitagawa, Suzuki GSX-R1000
• 8 Tokudome, Honda CBR1000RR
• 9 Hamaguchi, Honda CBR1000RR
• 10 Eguchi, Honda CBR1000RR

SAT, JULY 24, 2004: SPECIAL STAGE; 64 bikes qualified

• 1 Takeshi Tsujimura / Shi’chi Ito, Honda CBR1000RR
• 2 Toru Ukawa / Hitoyasu Izutsu, Honda CBR1000RRW
• 3 Ryuichi Kiyonari / Yuki Takahashi, Honda CBR1000RR
• 4 Atsushi Watanabe / Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki GSX-R1000
• 5 Yoshiteru Konishi / Takeshi Yasuda, Honda CBR1000RR
• 6 Shinichi Nakatomi / Wataru Yoshikawa, Yamaha YZF-R1
• 7 Keiichi Kitagawa / Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki GSX-R1000
• 8 Tatsuya Yamaguchi / Kazuki Tokudome, Honda CBR1000RR
• 9 Toshiyuki Hamaguchi / Syogo Moriwaki, Honda CBR1000RR
• 10 Tsuyoshi Mori / Kei Eguchi, Honda CBR1000RR
• World Endurance Teams:
• 22 Police Nationale, Takaharu Kishida / Gwen Giabbani , Honda CBR1000RR
• 23 Suzuki Castrol Team, Vincent Philippe, Oliver Four, Shawn Giles, Suzuki GSX-R1000
• 26 Yamaha GMT94, William Costes, Sebastian Gimbert, David Checa, Yamaha YZF-R1
• 33 Yamaha Austria, Horst Saiger, Igor Jerman, James Ellison, Yamaha YZF-R1

FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2004:

• 1 Shi’chi Ito, JPN , Honda CBR1000RR , 2m 10.895
• 2 Atsushi Watanabe, Suzuki GSX, R1000 , 2m 11.036
• 3 Toru Ukawa, JPN , Honda CBR1000RRW , 2m 11.179
• 4 Yoshiteru Konishi,. JPN , Honda CBR1000RR , 2m 11.205
• 5 Katsuaki Fujiwara, JPN , Suzuki GSX, R1000 , 2m 11.280
• 6 Shinichi Nakatomi, JPN , Yamaha YZF, R1 , 2m 11.292
• Permanent World Endurance Teams:
  Vincent Philippe / Suzuki Castrol Suzuki GSX-R1000 2m 13.748
  David Checa / Yamaha GMT94 Yamaha YZF-R1 2m 14.389
  Igor Jerman / Yamaha Austria Yamaha YZF-R1 2m 15.161
  Seb Scarnato / Yamaha Phase One Endurance Yamaha YZF-R1 2m 16.637

LAST YEAR'S RESULT: 2003 SUZUKA

• won by Yukio Nukumi & Manabu Kamata, Honda VTR1000SPW
• 2003 RESULT:
• 1 HONDA: NUKUMI Yukio / KAMADA Manabu VTR1000SPW, 212 laps
• 2 YAMAHA: NAKATOMI Shin'ichi / YOSHIKAWA Wataru YZF-R1 + 1 lap
• 3 HONDA: TSUJIMURA Takeshi / ITOH Shin'ichi  CBR954RR +2 laps

2004 PRESS RELEASE:

Suzuka 8 Hours – Entry List

The Suzuka 8 Hours round of the FIM World Endurance Championship takes place on the 25th of July. The entry list has now been announced, with star riders and full factory teams lining up alongside the permanent World Endurance Championship contenders who are travelling to Japan.

Championship Contenders:

Four permanent championship teams have confirmed entry to the race. Reigning World Endurance Champions Yamaha Phase One Endurance will carry the number one plate at the Japanese circuit, with former Shell Academy rider Marko Rohtlaan moving up to join Sebastien Scarnato and Dean Ellison. Current championship standings leaders Yamaha GMT94 return to Suzuka after a first trip in 2002; William Costes, David Checa and Sebastien Gimbert will be out to make sure that GMT94 hold onto their slender lead. Second placed Suzuki Castrol are no strangers to Suzuka, with a second and three fourth places recorded by the team over the years. Team regulars Vincent Phillipe and Olivier Four are joined by Australian Shawn Giles for Suzuka. Yamaha Austria have not raced at Suzuka before, but with riders Horst Saiger and Igor Jerman joined by James Ellison for the 8 Hour race they might just pull something special out of the bag. There will certainly be some competition between brothers Dean Ellison (Phase One) and James Ellison (Yamaha Austria), riding for competing teams for the first time in the championship. Finally, Endurance Moto 38’s Gwen Giabbani teams up with Takaharu Kishida on the Tsukigi Honda Fireblade entered by former World Endurance regulars Police Nationale.

Factory Fighters:

The Suzuka 8 Hours race is the most important race of the year for the Japanese
factories. Honda will be represented by an HRC CBR1000RRW ridden by Ryuichi Kiyonari and Yuki Takahashi, as well as the Seven Stars Fireblade of Toru Ukawa and Hitoyasu Izutsu and the two Sakurai Fireblades of Osamu Deguchi / Kenichi Kiyonari and Tadayuki Okada / Chojun Kameya. Leading Suzukis include the Kenz Motul GSX R1000 of Keiichi Kitagawa and Katsuaki Fujiwara, and the Yoshimura Suzuki ridden by Atsushi Watanabe and Yukio Kagayama. The Yamaha factory will be represented by the YSP Presto YZF-R1 of Shinichi Nakatomi and Wataru Yoshikawa, the Team Challenger bike ridden by Yoshihiko Fujiwara and Nobuyuki Ozaki, and the Club Yamaha pairing of Keiji Okumura and Daniel Stauffer. Kawasaki’s leading entry is the Beet Motul ZX10R of Kazuki Shimizu and Daisaku Sakai.

Extreme Entries:

Suzuka wouldn’t be Suzuka without the Formula Extreme entries that add colour and
excitement to the entry list. The Boxer Sports Club BMW R1100S and the Ducati Monster of La Bellezza Speed return, along with Asahina’s Samurai, the Over OV23 XV, Surf Suzuki’s SV1000S and a pair of Honda CB1300SFs.