It was literally freezing when we got to the track!
Well, it’s our last day in Japan and I’ve finally been able to get on the internet to post another update. You wouldn’t think in a country as technologically advanced as Japan you’d have such a hard time getting internet access! We’re in a gorgeous hotel in downtown Tokyo, with a nightly rate somewhere around $200 that doesn’t have wifi. Crazy, ay? I’ll take a step back a couple of days and go over what went down at the race on Sunday.
We all met in the lobby at 6am to head to the track. Usually getting up at 5am to get ready to leave at 6 would seem insane, but everyone was still pretty messed up from the jet lag and time change and we were all up without alarm clocks well before our time to leave. We made it to the track, and it was about -2° and the entire pits that were mud the day before, were frozen dirt. There was frost all over the track, and all over the bikes of the racers who had camped out at the track. The hotel bus dropped us of at the track, so we didn’t have a vehicle to stay in to stay warm so we huddled around a couple of portable heaters under the KTM team tent. To be honest, pretty much everyone was absolutely miserable and cold, but we could see the sun coming over the mountains and knew that we’d get warmed up eventually.
Me and my Fantic Caballero 200
I was racing the morning race on a Fantic Caballero 200cc 4-Stroke that the race promoter, Masami Hoshino, had lined up for me. The bike looked pretty nice, but I was a bit worried about how much power the 200cc engine would have. Regardless, I was really just looking to have a good time and as long as the bike would make it around the track I would be fine. I lined up on the 2nd starting row, not exactly sure what class I was in, and got ready to race. The morning race in the JNCCs is live engine, with your left hand on your helmet. No one could tell me how long the delay was between rows, so I was a bit unsure how my start would go. The front row took off, and it wasn’t more than 10 seconds later our row was off. I got pretty much the worst holeshot ever, but was lined up on the inside and able to work my way inside a lot of the pack. The track was pretty slick since the track was frozen, and there were riders going every which way. I had a few close calls, but was having a pretty good time. The Fantic was doing okay, it didn’t have much power, but was able to get me around the track and a lot of the slower riders. I came through the first lap 1st in my class and the 5th bike on the track. I had a few close calls, a couple of crashes, that resulted in a broken front brake lever and a fading rear brake which made navigating the hilly track kind of interesting! After 6 laps and a little over an hour of racing in, the clutch started fading and eventually quit working, leaving me stranded out on the track. A nice Japanese guy helped me push my bike back, and I thanked him by giving him my pair of Scott goggles.
Kailub Russell leading the AAGP JNCC
By the time the afternoon race was ready to go, the track had thawed out completely and started to get a bit sloppy. The sun was still out and the wind was picking up so it looked like it would eventually start to tack up. Josh Strang and Kailub Russell would be starting on the front row racing the pro class, and Randy Hawkins was starting on the 2nd row racing an age group class. The JNCCs always start with a parade of the top pro riders, and Kailub and Josh got huge cheers, especially from Josh’s long wheelie along the outside of the first turn.
In the past, the JNCC pro race started with a live engine start as my morning race did. But, after coming to the first GNCC round of 2009 in Florida, Masami decided to change to a dead engine start to match the American series. Strang and Russell are pretty good at the dead engine start and I had kind of picked them to holeshot and start to check out immediately. But, a few Japanese riders had something to say about that and got a great jump as Masami waved the Japanese flag signaling the start of the race. It didn’t take long for Russell and Strang to move their way into the lead as 3 turns in and they were in the first and second place positions.
Josh Strang rode well but a front brake problem took him out of the battle for the lead.
At only 6 miles in length, the JNCC track was short in comparison to the typical 12-mile GNCC track, but by the 3rd mile the two American riders had already pulled out a 1-minute gap. Off-road legend and recent AMA Hall of Fame inductee Randy Hawkins had worked his way into a 5th place spot on the track, and seemed to be having an awesome time as he was waving to his many fans as he picked off riders and made his way around the race course. Hawkins had raced in Japan 9-times prior to this trip and has a huge following here, and it was obvious by the cheers he was getting.
Strang and Russell continued to pull out to a massive lead, swapping positions seemingly every few turns. The two riders are friends and they definitely looked like they were enjoying riding with each other on the Japanese track. After an hour into the race, disaster struck for Strang as something damaged his front brake line and he was forced to make an extended pit stop to replace the front brake line. Russell had pulled out to a pretty sizable lead and looked comfortable out front, taking some pretty creative lines up and down the very steep sections of the race course. Strang put the hammer down for a few laps and was trying to reel in the XC2 Pro Lites champion, but after having to pit for fuel, Josh realized that barring a major problem for Kailub, he wouldn’t be able to catch him and started to slow the pace. After the race Strang would say he was getting pretty cold and didn’t feel like pushing the pace was really worth it given the size of Kailub’s lead.
The huge problem ended up striking Russell, as on the very last lap his chain was kicked off as he went up the largest and steepest hill on the course. Thankfully his mechanic, David “Hollywood” Cripe hadn’t left the pits and was able to borrow some tools from a Japanese mechanic (He had already packed up their pit area) and get the chain back on. Russell and Cripe had made it through 13 GNCC rounds without a mechanical malfunction which shows Hollywood’s skill as a mechanic, and his ability to get Russell back on the track without losing a position is another testament to that skill.
At the race’s end, Strang came through in 2nd place, Japanese rider Takeshi Koikeda was 3rd and Randy Hawkins made his way to 4th overall–not bad for a guy who hadn’t ridden a bike since last January!
After the race we stuck around for quite some time at the track for the multiple podiums the JNCC’s have. The Japanese are definitely big on making the races into a show. Kailub, Josh, and Randy signed a lot of autographs and took tons of pictures with the fans who stayed for quite some time in the cold for their chance to get a photo and poster from the American racers.
Okay, that’s enough for now! We’re going to try and get in a bit of last-minute sightseeing in Tokyo before we head to the airport. I’ll post some more updates from the trip and more photos from the race when we get back. Thanks for reading!
Final Results:
1. Kailub Russell
2. Josh Strang
3. Takeshi Koikeda
4. Randy Hawkins
5. Chitoshi Sawaki
6. Yasuke Kondo
7. Masami Ishii
8. Masahiro Kobayashi
9. Taichi Tanaka
10. Iwao Hakata