Sixth Place Finish For Maxwell And Stauffer At Suzuka 8 Hour
Team Honda Racing’s Wayne Maxwell and Jamie Stauffer pushed through pain to achieve an incredible sixth place finish at the Suzuka 8 Hour in Japan over the weekend.
The team mates, who were riding for the Dream RT Sakurai Honda Team, started the weekend off well retaining positions inside the top ten throughout practice, and qualifying. Securing seventh position on the grid of 58 motorcycles Maxwell and Stauffer were positive going into race day.
An unfortunate crash during warm-up at turn one for Maxwell resulted in possible broken ribs and a lot of pain. Stauffer took the position of rider one on his CBR1000RR and the team rallied their energy to challenge for the title.
Riding with incredible consistency throughout the entire 8 hours, the Dream RT Sakurai Honda Team riders hovered inside the top ten for most of the race. Maxwell suffered a second crash in the second hour and Stauffer was held back by a ride through penalty. In the final hour the team pushed hard to move their CBR1000RR into the final position of sixth
Back in Australia and in a lot of pain, Maxwell reflected on the weekend: “A sixth place finish is the best result both Jamie and I have had at the Suzuka 8 Hour. It is not what we went in hoping for but with all of the setbacks we faced we are really happy with the result. The race was really tough, at a lot of moments I really wanted to pull into the pits but I called on all of my strength to stay on the bike.”
Agreeing that consistency was key to the team’s success, Stauffer said: “The race was incredibly tough for us and we faced a few setbacks but both of us were so determined we just kept going. The Suzuka 8 Hour is one of the hardest races in the world, we really pushed hard and rode consistently and are pretty happy with our overall result.”
For Honda and the CBR1000RR the world endurance race was a huge success with Honda teams taking the top two spots on the podium and a total of six out of the top ten positions.
F.C.C TSR Honda team took top honours with WSBK rider Jonathan Rea being labelled the first British rider to ever win the prestigious race.
Australia was well represented with Jason O’Halloran stepping into the Honda TT Legends team to join fellow Aussie Cameron Donald and Isle of Man TT legend John McGuinness. The team kept a safe and steady pace that earned them a tenth place finish.
Held annually at the Suzuka International Racing Course, the Suzuka 8 Hour World Endurance Race is renowned for its complexity, testing the skill and endurance of the riders.
Suzuka 8 Hour 2012:
1. F.C.C TSR Honda CBR1000RR (Rea/Akiyoshi/Okada)
2. TOHO Racing with MORIWAKI CBR1000RR
3. Yamaha France GMT94 Michelin Yamalube YZF-R1
4. Moto Map SUPPLY GSX-R1000
5. Honda Suzuka Racing Team CBR1000RR
6. Honda Dream RT Sakurai Honda CBR1000RR (Maxwell/Stauffer)
7. Teluru & EMOBILE Kohara RT CBR1000RR
8. Team Motorrad 39 S1000RR
9. BMW Motorrad France 99 S1000RR
10. Honda TT Legends CBR1000RR (McGuinness/Donald/O’Halloran)
