British Superbike stars Rea and Kiyonari win Suzuka 300km

Jonathan Rea and Ryuichi Kiyonari raced their works Honda CBR1000RR to victory in the Suzuka 300km race at the fast Japanese circuit at the weekend as the Anglo-Japanese duo laid solid foundations for their assault on the prestigious Suzuka 8 hour race at the same circuit on July 29.

The BSB team-mates were followed home by Yoshiteru Konishi of Team HARC-PRO. The results meant a one-two finish for Honda in this important race ahead of the
Suzuka 8hrs.

Rea said: “This was my first endurance race and my first race at Suzuka Circuit, so I was really tense before the race. With a lot of corners, the course was twice as long as the courses in Britain I usually race on, and it was a very difficult course, but I was able to ride with a good rhythm and really enjoyed the race.

“With the rain, the conditions were also very difficult. I couldn’t tell how the situation with the rain would be, so I was thinking of perhaps entering the pit if the rain continued to become heavier. Fortunately, the rain cleared up after that, and I was able to run at a good pace and win the race.

“For our win today, I am really grateful to the manager, the whole team and Kiyo. My stay in Japan this time turned out to be a really good experience for me. I will leave for UK tomorrow, but I do want to pair up with Kiyo again to compete in Suzuka 8hrs, with the goal of winning the race.”

Kiyonari added: “From the start, I was aiming to build a big lead over the rider in 2nd place, but raising the pace was difficult early on in the race. We had a lot of tests in advance and the combination with the tires had improved, so I was confident of a good run if the weather was fine.

“I was passed by Akiyoshi and it started running midway, so it was a difficult race, but I was able to effectively run on even wet surfaces to increase the pace. This is my second consecutive victory at Suzuka 300km, but being able to team up today with Jonathan Rea, my teammate in BSB, in particular, we had managed to achieve good results from the test stage. We both could run at similar paces today, and I feel really thankful to Jonathan for the result. Our victory today is thanks to all of you fans cheering us on and every member on the team.”

Race results.
1. Ryuichi Kiyonari & Jonathan Rea, TEAM HRC Honda CBR1000RR, 1h:55m15.860s
2. Yoshiteru Konishi, Kyudo.com TEAM HARC-PRO Honda CBR1000RR, +48.861s
3. Katsuyuki Nakasuga, YSP&PRESTO Racing, YAMAHA YZF-R1,  +56.484s
4. Takeshi Tsujimura, C.C.TSR ZIP-FM Racing Team Honda CBR1000RR, +56.596s
5. Atsushi Watanabe & Daisaku Sakai, YOSHIMURA SUZUKI with JOMO SUZUKI GSX-R1000, +1m17.170
6. Kazuki Tokudome, Honda DREAM Racing Team Honda CBR1000RR, +1m23.765s