The "Mote Endurance" race, which began in 1998, celebrated its 19th edition in 2016. This year, 148 cars entered, surpassing last year's 130. One major change was the requirement for headlights and taillights, as the 4-hour race on Saturday ended at 7pm. The event was held on the first weekend of August, and on August 6th (Sat), the participants were met with intense heat from the morning.

The official qualifying session starts from 8:30 am with the first rider of Group A. #10 Team PENSKE's Mitsuharu Matsuda sets the top of the leaderboard with a time of 2:18.940. In the meantime, #29 NIKKYU R & Yumomichan's Daichi Kato marks 2:20.643 and updates the course record for the ST-Ninja class. In the first rider of Group B, #53 MOTORACING & KYOEI's Masaki Sasaki sets a time of 2:15.244 and updates the course record for the WT class. In the meantime, #21 NR Project & My Dream Super Big's Etsuo Hizawa sets a time of 2:20.430 and updates the course record for the ST-Ninja class, surpassing Kato's time. In the first rider of Group C, Takafumi Moriyama updates the course record for the AS2 class with a time of 2:23.380. On the other hand, there were teams that had accidents and ended up with no time, even though they were considered strong contenders.

The grid is determined by the combined time with the second rider in the "Mote Tai" race, so the time of the second rider is also important. The fastest time here was marked by last year's winner, #1 YSS Racing Bulldock Tagos rider, Takashi Fujii, with a time of 2 minutes 16 seconds 123. His teammate, Tatsuya Kitaibashi, marked a time of 2 minutes 16 seconds 007 and was in second place as the first rider, resulting in a combined time of 4 minutes 32 seconds 130 and securing pole position for the second consecutive year.
"Until the sports driving on Friday, I hadn't been able to get a good time, so getting pole position was unexpected. The map we used for Mote Low worked well. In the 7-hour endurance race, there are faster teams than last year, so we will focus on fuel efficiency," said Tatsuya Kitaibashi.

【#53 MOTORACING & KYOEI】 marked the second fastest time, followed by 【#63 DOG FIGHT RACING】 in third, and the only bike to qualify in the Brave class, 【#12 CLUB1.2FK Kusitanikawaguchi store】 in fourth. In fifth is 【#10 Team Penske】, followed by 【#13 MOTORACING & KYOEI】 in sixth, 【#75 D;REX】 in seventh, 【#56 HAPPY MONDAY】 in eighth, 【#98 NMC Verity】 in ninth, and 【#36 Motorcycle Japan】 in tenth.

And, the first night session in the history of Mote Endurance, a 4-hour endurance race, started at 3pm by 70 teams that did not qualify. The hole shot was taken by [#9 PIPIRA Electric] but the rider who returned in first place after the opening lap was [#25 BF&RASH]'s Hiromichi Kunikawa. As an active international license rider, his speed was truly impressive. [#9 PIPIRA Electric] was in second place, but behind them was also an active international license rider, [#147 team Motozou * Eiwa & moto1/4]'s Asahi Komuro, who was catching up and changing positions several times, but Komuro's speed was superior. After that, [#9 PIPIRA Electric] entered the first pit stop, and [#25 BF&RASH] and [#147 team Motozou * Eiwa & moto1/4] took the top two spots. These two teams had a strategy of having their international license riders run the full race. In the midst of all this, [#66 Riding Sports & KISS] had a consistent speed and was in first place after 3 hours. And in the final stint, Karin Ogura took over and returned to the course in first place. At this point, victory was almost in their hands... However, with 30 minutes remaining, they received a penalty for passing under yellow flags and dropped down in the rankings. Taking over the top spot was [#79 Shonan FRP & Racing Garage STR], but there was a rider making a furious comeback from behind. It was [#25 BF&RASH]'s Kunikawa. "I wasn't sure if the gas would last until the end, but I was only thinking about winning," said Kunikawa after the race, and with 5 minutes remaining, he passed [#79 Shonan FRP & Racing Garage STR] and took the lead, ultimately winning the 4-hour endurance race.