
The 17th "Mote Endurance" was held. On August 2nd (Sat), an official qualifying and a 4-hour endurance race by teams that unfortunately could not pass the qualifying were held. It was a typical hot summer day with clear skies and a temperature of 35 degrees and a road surface temperature of 55 degrees.
The session for the first rider of Group A started at 8:00 AM. Here, Katsuya Nagano, riding the #12 CLUB1.2 Kusitani Kawaguchi Store BRAVE class machine, set an overwhelming course record of 2 minutes and 14.739 seconds. In second place was Takahiro Yamamoto of the WT class, riding the #42 YSS Racing Mercury with a time of 2 minutes and 19.246 seconds. In third place was Mitsui Matsuda of the WT class, riding for #10 Team PENSKE with a time of 2 minutes and 19.673 seconds. In fourth place was Tatsuya Kosakabashi of the WT class, riding for #1 YSS Racing Bulldog Tagos A.
In the first rider of Group B, player #999 from Racing Team Honeybee, Kazuki Tomita, set the top time of 2 minutes and 22.716 seconds in the NST-CBR class, also breaking the course record for the NST-CBR class.
In the following session of Group A, #12 CLUB1.2 Kusitani Kawaguchi Store's rider Kenji Kumagai marked 2 minutes 15 seconds 701 to take the top spot. Hiroshi Maruyama marked 2 minutes 24 seconds 971. Although he was in the 19th position, he updated the course record for the NST-VTR class.
And in the final qualifying session, in the second rider of Group B, #17 Assort Racing's Shuichiro Nakamura recorded a good time of 2 minutes 22 seconds 747, following the time set by rider Tomita in the first session, and became the top of the group.
The pole position was won by the #12 CLUB1.2 Kusitani Kawaguchi store, with both the first and second riders dominating with an overwhelming time. This marks their second consecutive victory.
"I would like to say that we were able to win the pole position as planned, but this year, we have been plagued by machine troubles. We built a new engine based on last year's data, but it was plagued with problems. As a result, we have discarded last year's data and are approaching the race in almost standard condition. It wasn't until the race week that we were able to get a good time, but the power is not as good as last year, so the rider is making up for it. In fact, there was a transmission problem during qualifying, so it's questionable whether we can finish the race, but we have to run away as much as possible. First of all, since we were able to set off fireworks in qualifying, I'll take it as a good sign," said Katsuya Nagano, who marked the best time.
2nd place is [#42 YSS Racing Mercury], 3rd place is [#10 Team Penske], 4th place is [#1 YSS Racing Bulldocka Tago's A], 5th place is [#2 YSS Racing Bulldocka Tago's B] and the Ninja250 of the WT class follows, with 6th place being taken by [#66 Riding Sports Fire 66], the top team in the WS class.
The qualifying results were determined by the combined time of the first and second riders. In the final, there are also fast international riders in the third and fourth positions, making it difficult to predict the race. The pit stay time is also set according to the class, and "Mote tai" is not just about being fast. Which team will ultimately cross the finish line in first place!?
After receiving the qualifying results, the 4-hour endurance final race started at 2pm with 35 cars that did not make it to the 7-hour endurance. The opening lap was led by [#117 Y-style]. Following behind were [#34 Sachi Racing ☆ Tenshindou], [#53 Presto MRC Oyaji's Struggle], and [#107 WITH ME RACING V250], with a total of 6 cars forming the top group in the early stages. Among them, driver Maruyama of [#107 WITH ME RACING V250] showed aggressive driving and briefly took the lead, but immediately after that, he crashed at the S-curve corner. This caused him to drop significantly in the rankings.
Afterwards, the 【#4 Will Saitama & Yoshizawa Project】 that had caught up from the back of the grid rose to the top and established a dominant position. In the qualifying round, the first rider, Takashi Yoshizawa, crashed during the out lap and was unable to set a time, but they were able to participate in the 4-hour endurance race through a petition.
The race was about to reach the 3-hour mark. The top runner, [#4 Will Saitama & Yoshizawa Planning], and the second place [#64 Green Hills & Bee Craft I] both pitted at the same time. Both teams only changed riders and went back out on the track. In fact, [#4 Will Saitama & Yoshizawa Planning] did not have a rider ready to race, so another rider took their place. Immediately after, they pitted again for refueling and a rider change. With this pit stop, they lost their lead and [#64 Green Hills & Bee Craft I] caught up from behind. At the end of lap 73, the gap was 8.181 seconds. On lap 74, it was 5.390 seconds, and on lap 75, it was 3.122 seconds. Despite struggling with fuel consumption, [#4 Will Saitama & Yoshizawa Planning] picked up their pace, but on lap 76, the gap was reduced to 1.556 seconds, and in the V-shaped corner, they were finally nose-to-tail. Then on the back straight, [#64 Green Hills & Bee Craft I] overtook [#4 Will Saitama & Yoshizawa Planning] and took the lead. There were only 36 minutes left. In second place, [#4 Will Saitama & Yoshizawa Planning] showed their determination and caught up to the tail of [#64 Green Hills & Bee Craft I], but they had a big slide coming out of the 90-degree corner and almost crashed. They also got caught up in backmarkers, widening the gap and making it seem like [#64 Green Hills & Bee Craft I] would take the victory. However, on lap 83, the leader [#64 Green Hills & Bee Craft I] crashed. They quickly restarted, but fell back to second place. From behind, [#53 Presto MRC Oyaji's Last Stand] caught up and the two fought for second place.
With that, 【#4 Wil Saitama & Yoshizawa Planning】 finished first, leaving the rest of the pack behind. They secured their spot in the 7-hour endurance race the next day.
"Actually, I missed the timing for a rider change because I was on a work call, so we ended up making an unnecessary pit stop. In qualifying, I crashed right away and caused trouble for the team, so I did my best. Thanks to everyone's support, we were able to win. I will also be participating in the 7-hour endurance race tomorrow," said rider Yoshizawa.
【#64 Green Hills & B Craft I】, who had been battling for 2nd place, unexpectedly slowed down just before the finish line. They were unable to cross the finish line and finished in a disappointing 30th place. 【#53 Prest MRC Oyaji's Last Struggle】 finished in 2nd place, with 【#881 8810R】 coming in 3rd place.