Yoshimura Suzuki's Josh Brookes, Takuya Tsuda and Nobu Aoki finished second in the Suzuka 8-Hour World Endurance Championship race in Japan on Sunday, despite a crash and a 30-second time penalty.
Team Kagayama - former World 500cc GP Champion Kevin Schwantz, Nori Haga and Yukio Kagayama - put its GSX-R1000 on the third step of the podium.
Yoshimura Suzuki finished on the same 214th lap as the winners, Musashi RT HARC PRO's and also set the second-fastest race lap-time of 2'09.144. The fastest race lap of 2'08.827 was set by FCC TSR Honda's Ryuichi Kiyonari, who crashed just before the half-way stage.
Team Kagayama finished-up just one lap behind on 213, with SERT on 213, Yamaha France GMT94 on 212 and Honda Team Asia on 211 laps.
A huge crowd of 61,000 flocked into the circuit at Suzuka to see Japan's finest riders mix-it with some of the top riders from World Endurance, World Superbike and domestic championships, plus Suzuki's 1993 World 500cc GP Champion Schwantz, who proved, at the age of 49, he can still put-in fast and consistent lap-times.
Yoshimura Suzuki's Tsuda, who started from second place on the grid, took the lead from the start from pole-setter Katsuyuki Nakasuga (Monster Energy YART) in the 36th Coca-Cola Zero Suzuka 8-Hours race; and set the early pace until Nakasuga took over; and then Musashi's first rider on track, Takahashi, shortly afterwards.
After the first hour, Yoshimura Suzuki held third position with Team Kagayama fourth and SERT seventh. Three hours in, Team Kagayama moved into second position as Aoki was given a stop-go penalty for allegedly infringing pit-lane speed; and then Brookes suffered a get-off.
The Australian held onto the bike, kept it running while picking it up ; and finished his full stint (one of four) - a move that earned him even more respect from the team and his new team-mates.
Yoshimura then fought its way back into second place ahead of Team Kagayama at the four-hour stage ; a position the team held until the flag; and as the rain started to fall and darkness closed-in, Yoshimura Suzuki stayed-out on track with its original tyres and chose not to 'Pit' to change to Wets - as several other teams chose to.
"It's a great feeling, but I'm a little disappointing for my mistake in the race, because I know the Suzuka 8 Hours is great race and very important in all aspects for the manufacturers, sponsors and fans." Brookes stated.
"When I crashed, I didn't let-go of the handlebars; I was dragged by the bike. It was like a trophy you don't want to let go of!
"I tried so hard, it is a great honour to be here as part of the team; and I'd like to come back again. Thank you to everyone at Yoshimura for this. The bike was perfect and I know we could have won had it not been for a mistake," Brookes concluded.
Top Image: Josh Brookes (Centre) celebrates his podium success along with the rest of the Yoshimura Suzuki team
Credit: Suzuki Racing
