Second place went to the Trick Star Kawasaki ZX10R of Izutsu, Takeishi and Tsurata, the best result for Kawasaki since 200, and third place went to the Dream Sakurai Honda Fireblade of Takahashi and Makeya. Trickstar and Sakurai were one lap behind the winners.

In fourth place and a further lap behind were championship leaders Yamaha Austria, with riders Jerman, Martin and Giabbani. Yamaha Austria now need just one point to clinch the 2009 World Endurance Championship.

The other two permanent teams to travel to Japan were BK Maco Moto Yamaha and Yamaha Phase One Endurance. Maco (Ribalta, Pridmore) finished 11th and Phase One (Vallcaneras, Gowland, Cudlin) finished 12th, both on the same lap and separated by just one minute after eight hours racing.

Yamaha Austria: “We missed the podium by just one minute, after the team received a stop and go penalty for not respecting the speed limit during a pitstop. However, we are just one point short of missing the championship and we showed a fgreat battle to all the factory teams. All in all we are very happy with the result, even though fourth place always likes a missed podium.“

Jason Pridmore, BK Maco Moto; “Eleventh place today, a very good result for us. A hard race, torrential rain at times. Good result for Damo and team, also. In fairness, we shouldn't be racing here. Our bikes just aren't anything like sixty percent of the bikes out here. Suzuka on standard stuff is hard work. I'm getting used to this new R1 finally, made a lot of changes over the weekend. Bol d'Or is next on the list.”

Damian Cudlin, Phase One: “We ended up twelfth at the finish, my best Suzuka 8 hour result. It was a tough race, we pushed hard, the team did well.”