Factory Hondas, Yoshi Suzukis, Euro-Jap Tie-Ups...

The excellent team at MotoRacing-Japan.com have published their translation of the Suzuka 8 Hour entry list. I'm not going to post the full list here; support their site and find it at www.motoracing-japan.com/result/spl/088h_e.html

Top Wildcards

Describing the Dream Honda CBR1000RRs of Ryuichi Kiyonari and Carlos Checa (No.11) or Jonny Rea, Leon Haslam and Yusuke Teshima (No.33) as wildcards is a bit misleading, but you know what we mean. Yoshimura Suzuki also have two entries: No.12 with Daisaku Sakai and Atsushi Watanabe, and No.34 with Kohsuke Akiyoshi and Yukio Kagayama. The top Yamaha is likely to be the number 014 Club Yamaha bike of Takada and Sawamura, and the top Kawasaki? Bolliger or Diablo, perhaps?

18 Permanent Teams

18 permanent championship teams are making the trip to Suzuka. Following their Albacete 6 Hour crash-fest, Yamaha Phase One are listing Damian Cudlin, Scott Smart and Glen Richards as their riders. Diablo 666 Kawasaki have added “Fourth Quarter” to their name and are listing Gary Mason as their third rider, but this may just be until the real third rider is confirmed.

FCC TSR Amadeus

FCC TSR are running their usual Honda CBR1000RR entry with Takeshi Tsujimura and Shin'ichi Itoh, but bike number 9 is listed as FCC TSR Amadeus, with riders Satoru Iwata and Hiroyuki Kikuchi joining Will Gruy on what seems to be the Amadeus X One Yamaha YZF-R1. This isn't a case of sticking some Amadeus logos on the FCC TSR bike; I understand that talks between X One and FCC TSR have been going on since before the season began.

RT Racing & MotoVirus Z-Tech

Another Italo-Japanese team will be Naoki Yamada and Kenshiro Wada joining Sandor Bitter on the RT Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Formula WEC Entries

46 of the 50 entries in this year's Suzuka 8 Hour race are in the Formula WEC class, so there'll be no easy points up for grabs for the midfield permanent teams. The only teams not running in Formula WEC are the four permanent teams entered in the Superstock Cup; LTG57, Runner Bike, QERT and Moto45.

With the exception of the permanent MV Agusta and two Ducatis (Banner Moto Vita's 1098R and La Bellezza Speed's 999R), the entire field is composed of the usual Suzukis, Hondas, Yamahas and Kawasakis. There is no word yet of an entry from the Race24 Morini team; watch this space.

Best Team Name

And finally, it wouldn't be Suzuka without the likes of Dog House Racing Drag Naegi-K Roadway, Moto Bum & Hippopotamus, Babies' Racing de'Light and all the rest of the Suzuka privateers.