The Suzuka 8 Hours round of the FIM World Endurance Championship has been won by the No.7 Seven Stars Honda of Kiyonari and Ukawa, with the No.11 Seven Stars Honda of Vermeulen and Fujiwara in second place and the HARC Pro Honda of Aoki and Yasuda third. Although the No.7 bike was one of the first to pit for fuel, it had already built up a ten second lead at the end of the first hour. While the No.778 FCC TSR Honda, the Yoshimura Suzuki, the Masked Rider Honda, the Moriwaki Honda and the YSP Yamaha fought for position the No.7 Honda was able to increase its lead over the course of the second hour. When a thunderstorm brought heavy rain at the start of the third hour, the two Seven Stars Hondas made the most of their Michelin rain tyres to move clear of the rest of the field. Suzuki 0123 Castrol had been up to third place before Kitagawa crashed, dropping the world championship leaders back down the standings. Yamaha Phase One also crashed and were forced to make their way back though the busy field, while their championship rivals Yamaha Austria were able to stay out of trouble and move into the top ten. The Seven Stars Hondas continued to circulate relentlessly as their rivals either fell behind or crashed in an effort to maintain the pace once the track dried. Suzuki Castrol eventually closed to seventh place, Yamaha Austria finished ninth, Yamaha Phase One (Nowland, Cudlin, Young) 18th. The two permanent Kawasaki teams, Bolliger and Diablo, both crashed out of the race. Top Ten Finishers 1st 7 – Seven Stars Honda – JPN – Honda CBR1000RRW –Ukawa, Kiyonari – 204 laps 2nd 11 – Seven Stars Honda – JPN – Honda CBR1000RRW – Vermeulen, Fujiwara – 201 laps 3rd 73 Auto Race Team HARC Pro – JPN – Honda CBR1000RR – Aoki, Yasuda – 200 laps 4th 55 – FCC TSR DyDo Honda – JPN – Honda CBR1000RR – Deguchi, Teshima – 199 laps 5th 4 – Masked Rider Honda – JPN – Honda CBR1000RR – Tokudome, Yamaguchi – 198 laps 6th 18 – Team Yoshiharu Yokkaichi – JPN – Honda CBR1000RR – Sugai, Brookes – 197 laps 7th 2 – Suzuki 0123 Castrol – FRA – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Philippe, Kagayama – 196 laps 8th 31 – Moto Map Wins – JPN – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Kawase, Tamitsuji – 195 laps 9th 07 – Yamaha Austria – AUT – Yamaha YZF-R1 – Giabbani, Jerman, Saiger – 194 laps 10th 12 – Yoshimura Suzuki – JPN – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Kagayama, Watanabe – 193 laps
