Castrol Honda's
Colin Edwards and wild card rider
Makoto Tamada, riding a Cabin Honda, won a race each in Sundayıs fourth round of the World Superbike championship at Sugo in Japan.
Edwards was the first race victor, flanked by Tamada for the last three laps in the thrilling 25-lap encounter. Tamada, Edwards and
Noriyuki Haga all took turns to lead but the determination of Edwards shone through as he took his first win of the year on the new SP-2 machine.
"I was confident of being able to win here but when you've got a couple of riders like Tamada and Haga and at their home track - tailing you it's never going to be easy," said Edwards the first non-Japanese rider to win a World Superbike race at Sugo since 1995.
He continued: "I knew it would take some hard work to beat them but I felt comfortable with the machine and tyres to do it. Since Friday we've known that we were in good shape as far as race set-up went. Michelin have really done their homework since the races here last year and it's credit to them that I was in a position to win today."
Runner-up Tamada commented: "With four laps to go I decided to sit behind Colin and see where I could pass him. I tried my best to overtake but Colin was braking really hard and I couldnıt pass him anywhere."
Haga took third place, 4.4 seconds down on race winner Edwards while Neil Hodgson finished fourth, for the third time this year, after holding second place on the opening lap. Championship leader
Troy Bayliss was fifth as Edwards closed the points deficit to the head of the championship standings.
Tamadaıs win in the second race of the day was in typically explosive fashion as the 25-year-old took the lead from Hodgson with nine laps to go and then smashed the lap record a lap later. He crossed the finish line 3.2 seconds ahead of Edwards.
