The Eight Hours of Suzuka

THE EIGHT HOURS OF SUZUKA

EDDIE LAWSON’S LAST MOTORCYCLE RACE?

MATTHEW MILES

THE SAME WEEKEND THE WORLD'S top motocrossers were battling at Budds Creek, four-time 500cc world champion Eddie Lawson was in Japan competing in his final motorcycle race, the prestigious Suzuka 8-Hour, and Doug Polen was adding to his already impressive tally of international championships.

“That’s it for sure-my last race,” Lawson told reporters after his fourthplace finish. “I’m enjoying my car racing so much now. That’s what I want to do. I love bikes and I always will. I’ll always ride bikes on the road and on the dirt, but my future is now in car racing.”

Four other Americans-all champions-raced this year’s 8-Hour. Twotime World Superbike champ Polen and current title holder Scott Russell were entered, as were 1991 AMA Superbike champ Thomas Stevens and reigning World Endurance champion Doug Toland.

The rest of the 66-team field was predominately Japanese, supplemented by a few Australian, New Zealand and British riders. Leading the domestic contingent was 500cc GP regular Shinichi Itoh and Honda R&D rider Shinya Takeishi. Polen was paired with ’93 Suzuka 8-Hour winner Aaron Slight, Russell with fellow Kawasaki rider Terry Rymer. Lawson, riding for Yamaha, was partnered with Japanese ace Yasutomo Nagai.

Qualifying was dramatically altered from previous years. In the past, the rider with the fastest lap in qualifying was guaranteed pole position. This year, the quickest 40 teams participated in a special stage in which a single timed lap-the “Attack Lap”-determined final grid positions. The remaining 26 positions were determined by a 10-lap sprint race.

Peter Goddard, paired with fellow Australian Scott Doohan on a Lucky Strike Suzuki, was not pleased with the new system. “I don’t know who thought it up,” he said. “But it is not the right idea for an endurance race.” “Basically, it gave the top 40 riders a guaranteed 2 minutes and 15 seconds of television time,” said Polen. “That’s important for a race that is going to continue to progress commercially. With just one lap, you need to have your head in gear and the bike set up so it’s not going to do anything funny. I was surprised that only two people crashed. There were people-Eddie Lawson and some others-who came very close to crashing. It was interesting to watch, that’s for sure.”

Russell, riding a works Kawasaki ZX-7R, took the pole-and its $5640 prize-in 2:11.924. Lawson’s mid-lap bobble cost him a shot at top qualifying honors; he and Nagai were gridded 13th. Suzuki-mounted Stevens and Akira Yanagawa were sixth. Based on their fourth-place finish in the sprint race, a disappointed Toland and teammate Toshiki Kunimatsu started 44th on the Team Yoshiharu Honda RC45.

“The difference between a mildly kitted RC45 and a factory RC45-one that is capable of winning the race-is incomparable,” said Toland. “Our bike did have some kit parts, but the team’s budget was very limited. We needed stiffer fork and shock springs, for example, but the team wasn’t able to supply them. That alone could have been worth 3 seconds per lap.”

At the LeMan’s-style start, viewed by more than 100,000 fans, Team HRC’s Daijiro Kato got away first, but was quickly overtaken by Takuma Aoki on another Honda. On the 12th lap, Lawson’s teammate Nagai fell, badly damaging the factory Yamaha. One lap later, Team Apex’s Takeshi Shishido crashed in his own oil, his Yamaha sliding off the track and bursting into flames. Several other riders followed Shishido’s example, littering the track and run-off area with bikes and debris. The ensuing red-flag period, the first ever in 8-Hour history, allowed most of the teams, including Lawson’s, to fix their machines in time for the restart.

The second start saw Lawson, Itoh and Polen taking the track. Polen promptly recorded fastest lap up to that point. This was later eclipsed by Slight, then by Russell, who lapped quicker during the race than he had in qualifying. After Russell passed off to Rymer during a pit stop, Polen passed the factory Kawasaki, only to lose the top position when he handed the bike back to Slight. “We were back and forth. It was close the whole time,” said Polen.

The Kawasaki team needed only 13 seconds to change tires, fuel and hand the bike back to Russell for the sprint to the finish. The lanky American re-entered the track just behind Slight. With 15 laps remaining, the lead was less than 2 seconds, and Russell was gaining as the pair sliced through lapped traffic. Slight’s RC45 appeared to have a slight edge in top speed, but Russell was quicker through the corners.

“Russell and Rymer did have an advantage. They were really able to carve up the comers,” said Polen. “We had a slight push in the front end, but we felt it was good enough to get the job done.”

Eight laps from the end, Russell squeezed past Slight, only to lose the advantage entering the Chicane. Six laps later, Slight held a .32-second advantage. At the checkers, a mere .28 second separated the two riders, with the New Zealander taking his second consecutive 8-Hour victory, and giving the RC45 its first major international victory. Itoh/Takeishi finished third, with Lawson/Nagai one lap down in fourth.

At the post-race press conference, Russell expressed his admiration for Slight’s riding ability. “I was riding at the limit of my physical strength, and couldn’t do anything but follow Slight,” he said.

Polen and Slight were also drained, but thoroughly delighted with their team’s performance. “I’ve always wanted to win the Suzuka 8-Hour,” said Polen. “It’s been one of the things I’ve tried to win for years. I finished second with Kevin Schwantz in 1988, but that was as good as it got. But all that’s lifted now. I finally won the Suzuka 8-Hour.”

Of Lawson’s impending retirement, a smiling Polen was less than convinced. “Just give him $100,000 and he’ll come back,” he said.