Leon Haslam l-a egalat pe coechipierul sau din World Superbike, Jonathan Rea, castigand astazi legendara Cursa de 8 Ore de la Suzuka pentru echipa MuSASHI RT HARC-PRO Honda, alaturi de coechipierii Michael van der Mark si Takumi Takahashi.
Inca in refacere dupa piciorul rupt suferit in aprilie la Assen, Haslam, alaturi de coechipierii sai, a avut parte de o cursa fara evenimente neprevazute, trecand primul linia de finis in saua motocicletei Honda CBR1000RR special pregatite pentru cursele de anduranta.
Rezultatul este unul excelent nu doar pentru Haslam, care a suferit multe probleme in lungul sau drum catre recuperarea completa, dar si pentru tanarul van der Mark, olandezul de doar 20 de ani castigand legendara cursa la prima sa participare. Aceasta victorie ar putea insemna foarte mult si pentru cariera lui van der Mark, fiind cunoscut faptul ca producatorii japonezi tind sa favorizeze pilotii care au rezultate bune la Suzuka, aceasta cursa fiind cea mai populara competitie moto din Tara Soarelui Rasare.
Podiumul a fost completat de doua motociclete Suzuki, locul doi revenindu-i echipei Yoshimura, cu Josh Brookes, Takuya Tsuda si Nobuatsu Aoki, iar legendele vii ale echipei Kagayama Suzuki – Yukio Kagayama, Noriyuki Haga si Kevin Schwantz terminand cursa pe locul trei. Performanta celor trei, mai ales a lui Schwantz, care a revenit in competitii dupa o pauza de 19 ani si, la 48 de ani, a reusit, alaturi de cei doi japonezi, sa termine cursa de 8 ore la doar un tur in spatele castigatorilor. Incredibil!
Castigatorul de anul trecut, Jonathan Rea, nu a avut parte de o cursa foarte reusita, coechipierul sau, Ryuichi Kiyonari, iesind in decor la jumatatea cursei si obligand echipa sa abandoneze.
Iata clasamentul final:
Loc Echipa Moto Piloti Diferenta
1 MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO Honda Honda Takahashi – Haslam – van der Mark 214 Laps
2 Yoshimura Suzuki Racing Team Suzuki Tsuda – Aoki – Brookes +1’51.996
3 Team Kagayama Suzuki Kagayama – Schwantz – Haga +1 Lap
4 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team Suzuki Philippe – Delhalle – Da Costa +1 Lap
5 Yamaha France GMT94 Michelin Yamaha Checa – Foray – Lagrive +2 Laps
6 Honda Team Asia Honda Kamaruzaman – Takahashi +3 Laps
7 TOHO Racing with Moriwaki Honda Yamaguchi – Itoh – Watanabe +4 Laps
8 Monster Energy Yamaha YART Yamaha Nakasuga – Parkes – Waters +4 Laps
9 Honda Kunamoto Racing Honda Yoshida – Kojima – Tokudome +6 Laps
10 Team RC2L Suzuki Buisson – Shinjo – Giabbani +7 Laps
11 Bolliger Team Switzerland Kawasaki Saiger – Stamm – Sutter +7 Laps
12 EVA RT Test Type-01 Trick Star Kawasaki Serizawa – Deguchi – Izutsu +7 Laps
13 RS-Itoh & Asia Kawasaki Higashimura – Iwasaki – Murakami +7 Laps
14 Honda Hamamatsu Escargot Honda Kuboyama – Nakatsuhara +9 Laps
15 Confia H.M.F. LunaSol Japan Suzuki Suma – Hasegawa – Takamiya +11 Laps
16 Team38 PS-K Kawasaki Karita – Keyes – Yamashita +11 Laps
17 Team JP Dog Fight Yamaha Yamaha Fujita – Kimura – Tamura +13 Laps
18 Honda Ryokuyoukai Kunamoto Honda Mitaori – Ohashi – Mori +15 Laps
19 MotoMap Supply Suzuki Konno – Teramoto – Nakamoto +15 Laps
20 Iwata Racing Family Yamaha Ueno – Sawamura – Nishimura +15 Laps
21 Winner Z-Tech Suzuki Kunimatsu – Yoshida +15 Laps
22 Honda TT Legends Honda McGuinness – Andrews – Rutter +15 Laps
23 Hamamatsu Team Titan Suzuki Shimizu – Inijki – Ohshiro +16 Laps
24 Dog Fish O-Tec Suzuka Honda Ohuchida – Akimoto – Watase +16 Laps
25 RS Garage Harada Himeji Kawasaki Harada – Okamura – Tanaka +16 Laps
26 Dog House & Higuchi Suzuki Higuchi – Iwatani +16 Laps
27 Team Flembbo Leader Team Kawasaki Demarey – Nishijima – Prosenik +17 Laps
28 B-Square Racing & Osaka SAM Kawasaki Tanaka – Ohita – Sato +17 Laps
29 Honda Sayama Racing Honda Yamashita – Ishizuka – Ohyama +19 Laps
30 Banner Racing H-K-C Ducati Kaneda – Dan – Asahina +19 Laps
31 Motobox Kremer Racing Suzuki Scherrer – Paavilainen – Bauer +19 Laps
32 SNDheater Human-Revo Suzuki Sagoh – Hisadumi +19 Laps
33 La Bellezza Speed & Kumamon Ducati Itami – Hori – Toda +19 Laps
34 Hamamatsu 8H Team Yamaha Tonari – Nakao – Izumi +20 Laps
35 Yamashina Kawasaki Kawasaki Mizusawa – Yamasaki – Matsumoto +22 Laps
36 Team Sugai Racing Japan Ducati Sugai – Kamatani +22 Laps
37 Team Little Wing BMW Miyazaki – Yamauchi +23 Laps
38 Honda Dream Takasaki Honda Shimizu – Sakurai – Kobayashi +24 Laps
39 Hinoseiki Iwaki & T2 Suzuki Yamauchi – Wada – Takano +25 Laps
40 Team Vital Spirit Shark BMW Saiki – Tsujimoto – Soma +25 Laps
41 Team Karbar Cafe Racing Kawasaki Morimoto – Nakajima +26 Laps
42 Motorrad Toyota Nagasaka BMW Noda – Nakamura – Sasaki +26 Laps
43 Honda Kouyoukai Dream Honda Kurayama – Nakamura +31 Laps
44 Honda Suzuka Racing Team Honda Yasuda – Hiura – Kitaguchi +34 Laps
45 Team Etching Factory Yamaha Nakaoka – Hayashi – Fukami +35 Laps
46 IMT satoracing Yamaha Sato – Inagaki – Yasutomi +35 Laps
47 KTM Hamaguchi Bakuon Racing KTM Fujishima – Dairaku – Hamaguchi +40 Laps
48 Honda Dream RT Sakurai Honda Honda Stauffer – Hook +48 Laps
49 Motobum & Ishigaki Island Honda Kunikawa – Ohki – Matsukawa +50 Laps
50 Honda EG Racing Honda Kuribayashi – Honda +51 Laps
