An unexpected reunion will characterize 2019 All Japan Road Race season, as almost 45-year-old Yukio Kagayama will return to Yoshimura Suzuki. Do you know what’s surprising in all this? The Japanese veteran will race against his own team, whose rider will be Takuya Tsuda.
WHAT A RETURN! – After many seasons spent in World and British Superbike, Yukio Kagayama returned to Japan in 2011 and then he created Team Kagayama, who later scored remarkable results in All Japan and, in particular, at Suzuka 8 Hours, where he got three consecutive podium finishes from 2013 to 2015 with people like Noriyuki Haga, Kevin Schwantz, Dominique Aegerter and Ryuichi Kiyonari. For what concerns All Japan series, Team Kagayama was very often the best Dunlop-tyred squad in JSB1000 class. However, Yukio Kagayama will not contest 2019 season with his team, since he has rejoined Yoshimura Suzuki to replace Takuya Tsuda. What about Tsuda? He’ll represent Team Kagayama…
CHASING THE TITLE – “We’re unhappy with the results scored last year, so we had to change something inside the team“, said Yohei Kato, Sporting Director for Yoshimura Suzuki. “This is the reason why we’ve welcomed back Yukio: together, we’ll reorganise the whole team and try to become the champions“. What played an important role in this decision is the instable performance provided by Suzuki MotoGP Test Rider Takuya Tsuda, who has proven to be competitive as well as error-prone, following the three crashes made during the latest 5 editions of Suzuka 8 Hours. The mistakes made by Tsuda have led Yoshimura Suzuki to the decision of re-calling Yukio Kagayama, who’ll help Yohei Kato in the reorganisation of the team. The goal for 2019 is to be in the front with both Kagayama and re-signed Kazuki Watanabe.
TSUDA GOES TO TEAM KAGAYAMA – Nothing has been defined yet, but it seems like Kagayama will return to his team for 2019 Suzuka 8 Hours, while the man who’ll ride the n. 71 GSX-R 1000 in All Japan is Takuya Tsuda. Tsuda has already used Dunlop tyres (even in FIM Endurance World Championship, when he was part of Suzuki Endurance Racing Team) and the fact there will be less pressure on him than last year will be helpful in his search for glory. At the end of the day, the exchange of seats involving Kagayama and Tsuda is the best solution for everybody and All Japan fans will surely re-think of when, in 2007, Kagayama took Yoshimura Suzuki to the victory of Suzuka 8 Hours. Back then, Yoshimura hadn’t won the most important race in Endurance for 27 years…
Translated by Alessandro Palma