Josh and Yoshimura Suzuki finish second at Suzuka 8 Hour

From Sunraysia Daily 1 August 2011

Making his first appearance in what is arguably the biggest motorcycle event in Japan, 2009 Australian Superbike Champion Josh Waters made an impressive debut at the Suzuka 8 Hour, helping his team to a credible second place overnight. Water’s teammate Yukio Kagayama put the team’s GSX-R1000 on pole with a time of 2:08.001 during the all-new ‘Top Ten Trial’ qualifying format. Yoshimura Suzuki led the race until around the fifth hour, when the TSR Honda team made their move, eventually winning by 38.765 seconds, with The Musashi RT Harc Pro team rounding out the podium in third 1:31.161 behind the leaders. 

“This event is just so huge here it is amazing. The crowd just goes wild and being right on the doorstep of all the Japanese manufacturers is great,” Waters commented. “I feel so lucky to have been given this opportunity. I can’t thank Team Yoshimura Suzuki enough!”  Waters has spent considerable time preparing for this event, competing also in two World Superbike rounds at Phillip Island and Miller, USA.  “The heat was always going to be a big challenge, I spent two full weeks in Japan to test and get used to training in it,”  Waters added “Track temperatures at one stage was over 60 degrees (celsius). All the hard work was definitely worth it!”.