Ito wins Suzuka 8 Hrs

The Suzuka 8 Hours has been won by the F.C.C. TSR Honda team of former GP racer and now triple Suzuka winner Shinichi Ito, and five-time 125cc GP winner Takeshi Tsujimura, on a CBR1000RR.

The duo took the lead during the third hour, and maintained their advantage over the Toy Story Honda and Yoshimura Suzuki teams. The Toy Story duo of Yoshiteru Koknishi and Takashi Yasuda took second, from Nobuatsu Aoki and Atsushi Watanabe in third. All three podium finishers completed 214 laps in the eight hour race.

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The British Diablo 666 Kawasaki team eventually finished in 31st position overall, and sixth in the Superbike class with riders James Hutchins, Alex Cudlin and Marko Rohtlaan. Top British finishers were Yamaha Phase One in 17th, with Shell Endurance in 32. The top team from the World Endurance class was Yamaha Austria in tenth, while championship leaders Suzuki Castrol finished in 38th place, following three crashes.

The Kawasaki Bolliger team suffered engine failure after just one lap, while MotoGP star Colin Edwards tangled with another rider on the first lap, remounted his bike, overtook 19 riders in a single lap, and then pulled to a halt as the bike cut out on him. The Wieder DD Boys Honda crashed from 11th place after tangling with a slower rider, Yamaha Acropolies Zone Rouge crashed out in the closing stages, and Suzuki No Limits retired with a blown engine. In the penultimate hour the YSP & Presto team and Yamaha Team Challenger bikes both DNF’d.

Diablo 666 race updates:

Hour 1: Qualifying in 59th, first rider James Hutchins put in some fast laps to raise the team up to 42nd place at the end of his 20 lap stint. Alex Cudlin was then able to rise up to 35th as other teams came in the pitstops.

Hour 2: On lap 42, Cudlin passed the machine over to Mark Rohtlaan, and the team were now in 34th place, supported by sister team Bolliger Kawasaki, whose bike blew up after just one lap.

Hour 3: The team moved up to 28th place.

Hour 4: At the halfway stage, each of the three riders has ridden two stints, and the bike is running fine as Diablo setlle into 30th position, and fifth in class.

Hour 6: As darkness falls, Diablo 666 are up to 28th overall, staying fifth in class.

Hour 8: Diablo finishes in 31st position and sixth in the superbike class, but an alledged rider infrigement could see this change. But the British-based squad have claimed their first finish at Suzuka for Hutchins, Cudlin and Rohtlaan.