The Story so far The N°634 Honda of Leon Haslam, Takumi - TopicsExpress

The Story so far The N°634 Honda of Leon Haslam, Takumi Takahashi and the talented young Michael Van Der Mark emerged in front at the beginning of the third hour and went on to collect its second Suzuka success after its victory in 2010. Musashi RT Harc-Pro was handed the lead on Lap 57 when the early pace-setter FCC TSR Honda was eliminated by a fall (Kiyonari). Takahashi completed 214 laps in the course of the eight-hour race. Yoshimura Suzuki Racing Team’s N°12 Suzuki (2nd, +1 lap) led early on but was delayed by a 30-second penalty and a fall before fighting its way back to second overall. It was helped by the incidents which affected the teams running in second and third spots at the halfway point. The pole-winning Michelin-equipped N°7 Yamaha was third at one moment but had to make an unscheduled stop to cure an oil leak shortly before the four-hour mark. The Austrian team re-joined in 10th place with a four-lap deficit. Meanwhile, Team Kagayama lost second place because of a slightly slower stint by Kevin Schwantz. The top 10 was rounded off by SERT (Philippe/Delhalle/Da Costa) and GMT 94 (Michelin). David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive started from 10th on the grid and their consistency saw them finish as the best-placed Yamaha runners, as in 2012. The first half of the race provided spectators with plenty of leader changes and drama, but the leading positions were more or less settled with 3½ remaining, despite the arrival of rain for the last half hour or so. YART ended up eighth, while Bolliger and Team R2CL crossed the line in 10th and 11th positions. The Honda TT Legends bike fell back to 53rd after losing a quarter of an hour following a clutch change during the second hour. It ended up 25th overall. The woes of BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent (Michelin) in the 2013 championship continue… After its misfortunes at April’s Bol d’Or, the Belgian outfit lost the services of Damian Cudlin because of a fall in free practice. It then suffered two more falls during the race and retired before the five-hour mark. SERT left Suzuka at the top of the championship standings on 49 points. YART (46) is second, chased by GMT 94 (42).