[elephino]

Cabin Honda's Tohru Ukawa and Daijiro Katoh took a comfortable victory in Sunday's Coca-Cola-backed Suzuka-8 Hour race in Japan after an action-packed event which ended with the VTR-mounted pair winners by more than a lap.

Katoh, 24, and 27-year-old Ukawa -- rivals in the 250cc world championship -- handed Honda its record fourth-successive win in the 23rd running of the prestigious annual race.

The first hour was a true, sprint race-style battle as Colin Edwards on the Castrol Honda fought through from ninth on the opening lap to lead after six laps. He was joined at the front by Kawasaki's Hitoyasu Izutsu, Akira Ryo on a Suzuki and the RC45 of Makoto Tamada.

The pole position pairing of Noriyuki Haga and Wataru Yoshikawa were out of the reckoning by the 16th lap when Yoshikawa crashed. A subsequent lengthy pit stop ruled the Yamaha duo out of victory.

After the first round of pit stops Valentino Rossi took over from Edwards and looked comfortable at the front on his debut in the race until the 21-year-old Italian slid off at the slow, left-hand hairpin.

"It was a stupid mistake for me to make," said Rossi. "I lost the front, I was pushing too hard when there was no need to."

Rossi rode the stricken machine back to the pits for a five-minute repair before rejoining in 35th place.

Two laps later, the safety car was introduced following a crash at the 130R corner. The incident claimed the life of 47-year-old Mamoru Yamakawa who crashed his 900cc Kawasaki and died in the ambulance on the way to Suzuka hospital. Yamakawa's death was the first in the 23-year history of the race.

Rossi's 32nd-lap crash handed the lead to Kawasaki and Izutsu's teammate Akira Yanagawa but the hard-charging Tohru Ukawa on the Cabin VTR Honda was soon leading a race he won in 1997 and 1998. Ukawa outbraked Yanagawa for the lead at the chicane on Lap 42.

Ukawa eased away at the front then handed the factory VTR over to Daijiro Katoh who fought out the third hour of the race in thrilling style with Izutsu. Ukawa and Yanagawa left the pitlane together at the start of the fourth hour and the Honda man powered through his 25 laps around the 3.64-mile track, opening up a 10-second lead at the halfway stage of the race.

Katoh increased the lead to 26 seconds in a fifth hour which also brought the end of the race for the popular Castrol Honda pairing of Edwards and Rossi. The exciting duo -- favorites of the fans at Suzuka -- had battled back and into eighth place only to be forced out when Edwards crashed at the right-hander before Spoon corner -- leaving the machine beyond repair.

"I don't know what happened," Edwards explained. "I lost the front end in the fast, downhill right, it was quick. I must have gone down at about 150 mph and when I thought I'd stopped sliding, I was about to get up and realised I was still doing about 40 mph!

"I suffered a little bit of a burn on my back from sliding," Edwards added, "but apart from that, I'm OK. I'm very disappointed because Valentino and myself could have won this race. My motivation was dented a little when Valentino crashed but I got going again and we had a probable third place to chase."

We've just been unlucky but there will always be another time," Rossi added. "I've enjoyed the event but, like Colin, I am very disappointed that we could not get a result for Honda."

Edwards was later taken to hospital suffering from mild concussion.

By the end of the fifth hour, leader Katoh had increased the lead to 26 seconds. Ukawa continued the dominance at the front of the race, taking the advantage to 44 seconds before
pitting for fuel and passing the leading machine to Katoh to start the seventh and penultimate hour.

Just 20 minutes into the seventh hour, Izutsu crashed out of second place then watched in agony as his Kawasaki cartwheeled through the gravel trap, forcing him and partner Yanagawa out of contention.

That handed second place to the Suzuki of Akira Ryo and Keiichi Kitigawa. With 50 minutes to go, Katoh pitted and handed the honors to Ukawa for the final sprint to the finish line, taking the checkered flag after maintaining his advantage of a lap over Kitigawa. The victory was Honda's
15th in the unique race and the third for Ukawa after he took his two previous wins with Shinichi Ito.

"I'm so happy to have won for a third time," Ukawa said. "It's been a difficult race for us both. Concentrating from the second hour when we took over the lead was difficult but we held on and it's difficult to believe we've done it."

Winning teammate Katoh commented, "I'm shocked. It was hard work keeping my mind on riding while I knew I could be on my way to my first Suzuka 8-Hour win. I must say thank you to Ukawa though -- I'm pleased it was him on the machine in the last hour and not me, I would have been so nervous."

Behind the Ryo/Kitigawa partnership in runner-up place was the Kawasaki duo of Peter Goddard and Tamaki Serizawa, two laps adrift in third place.

The second Cabin Honda was dealt a cruel blow before the race started as Tadayuki Okada crashed at high speed in the morning warm-up and was forced out of the reckoning with
concussion. That left teammate Ito to partner reserve rider Manabu Kamada. A third-hour crash for Ito dropped the number 33 machine from ninth to 29th.

Ito and Kamada battled back to an eventual eighth place finish while the RC45-mounted Makoto Tamada and Alex Barros also fought back following a 58th-lap crash for Tamada. The Sakurai Honda team pairing finished 43rd.

Honda Team Quotes: Team Cabin Honda: "Injured Tadayuki Okada crashed again during this morning's Free Practice. He was forced to stay out and the reserve rider, Manabu Kamata
became Shinichi Ito's partner. Ito crashed on Lap 69 at Degner Curve. Still they recovered from 30th place to 8th in the end."

Shinichi Ito: "I was pushing too hard when I crashed. Still I was lucky I did not injure myself. We tried our best to get this result."

Manabu Kamata: "I am happy that we finished within top-10. Eighth place is my best Eight-Hour race result. I want to say thank you to Ito who tried so hard during his final run. Also I want to thank the staff who arranged lap time menu according to my lap times."

Tadayuki Okada: "I feel disappointed because I couldn't race. I must appologize to both Ito and Kamata for troubling them. I will make a revenge at my next GP."

Nobuo Ono, Team Manager: "There were many troubles during the weekend but I think that is a part of endurance race. Kamata did a good job. I am happy that we finished eighth. I realized that we should never give up."

Koji Nakajima, HRC General Manager: "Both Ito and Kamata did a good job. Ito was trying too hard because he had to push and make up the times. Still eighth is not so bad."

Takuma Aoki's Sub Manager: "Kamata was a reserve rider so he didn't have much time to practice. But I think he did a good job. Both riders didn't give up after the crash and eighth is not so bad. I am happy that #4 Team Cabin Honda won the race."

Team Cabin Honda, The Winner: "Tohru Ukawa and Daijiro Katoh of #4 Team Cabin Honda won 2000 Suzuka 8-Hour Endurance Race with a record of 215 laps. This is the third win for
Ukawa and the first for Katoh."

Tohru Ukawa: "I wasn't confident of the win until I got the checkered flag because you'll never know what will happen in 8-Hour race. But we are the WGP riders fighting the championship so I knew that if there isn't any problems we can win the race. During my second session, I was
competing with Yanagawa (Kawasaki). I knew my machine was faster so it was easy for me. Katoh was also faster than Izutsu and I wasn't worried at all. I think the race was perfect for us. With my prize money, I will have a party with my mechanics!"

Daijiro Katoh: "Finally I won 8-Hour race. I can't believe it yet. Today during my first session, my tyres weren't good for the condition. During the second run, I had a good battle with Izutsu. My machine was faster on the straights so I wasn't worried at all. From the third session,
temperature decreased and it was much easier. I was a little bit nerveous when it began to rain during Ukawa's final run. With the prize money of JPY10 million? I've never had such a big money before so I think I will use it all at once!

Michimasa Arima, Team Manager: "The main reason for our win is the good combination of two riders. Also our tyres were good. It rained during Ukawa's final run but I wasn't worried at all. I knew he would do a good job.".

Kouji Nakajima, HRC General Manager: "The #4 Team won the race because the total combination among riders, mechanics and other staff was strong and also all the fans supported
us. Also #4 Team did their job according to the plan and there wasn't any troubles. Above all, the riders did a great job. I thank everyone for the support."

Results:
RIDERS TEAM LAPS
1. Daijiro Katoh, Japan /Tohru Ukawa Japan (Cabin Honda) 215
2. Akira Ryo, Japan /Keiichi Kitigawa Japan (Suzuki) 214
3. Tamaki Serizawa, Japan /Peter Goddard Australia (Kawasaki) 212
4. Yuiichi Takeda, Japan/Shinichi Nakatomi Japan (Honda) 210
5. Osamu Nishijima, Japan/Ryuji Tsuruta Japan (Kawasaki) 210
6. Shawn Giles, Australia/Osamu Deguchi Japan (Suzuki) 209
7. Noriyasu Numata, Japan /Yukio Nukumi Japan (Yamaha) 208
8. Shinichi Ito, Japan/Manabu Kamada Japan (Cabin Honda) 206
9. Kei Nashimoto, Japan/Ryuichi Kiyonari Japan (Honda) 206
10. Makoto Tokinaga, Japan/Yasuhiko Goriku Japan (Yamaha) 204
11. Mitsuo Saito, Japan/Takahiro Fukami Japan (Yamaha) 203
12. Yo****eru Konishi, Japan /Jun Maeda Japan (Yamaha) 203
13. Peter Linden Sweden / Warwick Nowland AUS (Suzuki) 203
14. Tomomi Manako, Japan/Shigeru Yama****a Japan (Kawasaki)
203
15. Toshihido Kawada, Japan/Yoshiyuki Sugai Japan (Suzuki)
203