Images from the 39th Suzuka 8 Hours, Part Five ...

Images from the 39th Suzuka 8 Hours. For the full story of the race and more images, purchase the book  at:

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At the other rounds of the FIM Endurance World Championship, they were the rock stars. At Suzuka, they were the Nowhere Men, the supporting cast, performing an ancillary storyline. They were the FIM EWC permanent teams, fighting among themselves for the few points on offer after the local squads had eaten their fill. Here Team SRC Kawasaki, which won the Bol D'or 24-hour race earlier in the season, sits ignored before the start of the 8 Hours.

 

Suzuki Endurance Race Team's EWC GSX-R1000 and the Moto Map Supply GSX-R1000 fly in formation. Moto Map, which competes in the MFJ Superbike series in Japan, finished fifth; SERT crashed and was out of the points.

Team SRC's Kawasaki DNF'd.

GMT94 suffered a mechanical early and was able only to climb back into 14th. It would prove costly in the final EWC Championship tally.

 

The local teams put on a production on the pre-grid. On this day, at this circuit, the front-line local teams were the rock stars.