Between the Brno and Silverstone World Superbike rounds, Jonathan Rea and Hiroshi Aoyama will be racing in the 35th edition of the Suzuka 8 Hours, but they won’t be team mates this time.

HRC has decided to field three teams in the tough and iconic endurance race, F.C.C. TSR and’HARC-PRO Honda and have added the Honda Asia team.

This will be Rea’s fourth partecipation (2008 to 2010) and he’ll back on the F.C.C. TSR branded Fireblade - equipped with Bridgestone tires) where he and took a third place podium in 2010 and he’ll be partnered with Kousuke Akiyoshi, Honda’s MotoGP test rider and two time All Japan Superbike champion who was part of the team that took the victory last year. Akiyoshi is returning to track after breaking his leg in the opening round Japanese SBK championship at Motegi.

For Hiroshi Aoyama it will be his first ever Suzuki 8 Hours, and he’s being fielded in HARC-PRO Honda (the same team that saw him debut in All Japan 250 GP). Aoyama’s team mates will be Takumi Takahashi (All Japan Superbike runner-up and Suzuka winner in 2010) and someone who doesn’t need any introduction, three-time BSB champion and four-time Suzuka winner, Ryuichi Kiyonari, who is currently racing in the FIM Asia Road Race Championship in the Supersport category.

Team Honda Asia instead will be fielding former MotoGP and World Superbike rider Makoto Tamada and Suzuka 8 Hour veteran and Asia Dream Cup trainer Chojun Kameya and MuSASHi Boon Siew Honda Racing rider Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman.

If Honda has a strong line-up, they’ll be going face-to-face against the Monster Yamaha YART endurance team who is fielding Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Tommy Hill and Noriyuki Haga.

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Before heading to Japan to take part in the 35th edition of the iconic Suzuka 8 Hours Noriyuki Haga will be racing in the second round of FIM Endurance World Championship at Losail, Qatar in the 8 Hours of Doha on June 9th.

NitroNori who currently races in the British Superbike Championship replacing injured Ian Hutchinson in Swan Yamaha and is 10th in the series, will be get to know his Monster Yamaha YART Team (ex Yamaha Austria Racing Team) prepared YZF-R1 ahead of the Suzuka race.

The three-time World Superbike runner-up (2000, 2007, 2009) and Suzuka 8 Hours winner (1996) will be fielded next to Gwen Giabbani, Steve Martin and Igor Jerman, while at Suzuki his team mates will be his own BSB team mate Tommy Hill and two-time champion and current leader of the All Japan Superbike series, Katsuyuki Nakasuga.

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Makoto Tamada literally disappeared from this year’s international racing scene after subbing for Roland Resch in the WSBK Portimao round for Reitwagen BMW Team andwhen his Italian ghost team Pro Ride, due to sponsor difficulties and funding didn’t show up for a single race this season.

The former MotoGP and Superbike winner has decided to return to racing in his native Japan and will take part in the Suzuka 8 Hours that starts July 25th. Tamada will be riding a Honda CBR 1000RR with Bridgestone tires for the Keihin Kohara Team and is teamed up with Shinichi Itoh.

Tamada and Itoh will be going against riders of the caliber of Jonathan Rea, who is getting his second opportunity to race at the iconic event, former MotoGP rider and Tech 3’s Moto2 Yuki Takahashi (for F.C.C. TSR) and former WSBK rider and now BSB rider Ryuichi Kiyonari (for HARC-PRO).

Source | bikeracing.it

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Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team has announced that Jonathan Rea will be competing in the iconic 2010 Suzuka 8 Hour endurance race in Japan on July 25th and before that will also contest the 300km Suzuka race on June 13th.

Rea’s team-mate have yet to be announced but Honda has confirmed that Rea will riding for one of the satellite Honda teams on an HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) CBR1000RR Fireblade with support from the factory.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be given a chance to go back to Suzuka and compete in the 8 Hour race. I raced there in 2007 in the 300km and was hoping for a chance to do the 8 Hour that year, but it didn’t happen.”

“The winners list reads like a who’s who’ of racing and I’d love to add my name to that list. But there are also some fantastic riders who have raced there and never won. It’ll be a big thrill for me and I can’t wait!”

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Former Suzuki test rider and occasional MotoGP wildcard Kousuke Akiyoshi, will replace a still recovering Dani Pedrosa in Honda HRC in this weekend’s official MotoGP test in Jerez.

Akiyoshi, who joined Honda this past winter, won the 2007 Suzuka 8 Hours on a Suzuki S-GSX-R1000 alongside Yukio Kagayama.

Kousuke Akiyoshi has appeared as a wildcard in four MotoGP races in the past seasons and now rides for the F.C.C TSR Team (Honda) in the Japanese National Championship and will again take part in this year’s Suzuka 8 Hours, this time with rider Shinichi Itoh.

Ducati’s test rider Vittoriano Guareschi will also be in attendance at the Jerez test.

Source | motogp

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