Honda SP2 domination in Sugo

Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards and wild card rider Makoto Tamada, riding a Cabin Honda, won a race each in Sunday?s 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.

Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards and wild card rider Makoto Tamada, riding a Cabin Honda, won a race each in Sunday?s 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 couldn?t 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.

Tamada?s 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.

"Once I was leading the race I concentrated hard. I wanted to record some fast laps and not make any mistakes," said Tamada. "As soon as I looked up at the pitboard again and saw I had a three-second lead I knew I had won the race. I'm really happy and I hope everybody in the world remembers my name now."

Tamada's team is managed by Tady Okada, last year's team-mate to Colin Edwards at Castrol Honda. Okada commented: "This is the first win for me as a team manager and it's nice to be on the podium again. Tamada was really good in that second race and made me very proud."

Runner-up Edwards was pleased to have reduced the points deficit to Bayliss in the championship from 45 at the start of the day to 24. The American has now taken more podium finishes than any other rider this year with seven from the eight races so far.

Edwards said: "I'm amazed at the pace this year. Today's races were about 20 seconds faster than last year's and it's the same everywhere. It's a credit to the series and to the tyre manufacturers.

"In the first race my rear tyre was sliding with about four laps left so when I found myself in third chasing Hodgson I knew I'd have to make my move before that point of the second race. Once I was in second I tried to put one clean lap together and catch Tamada but he was gone, it was hopeless. After that I just started thinking about blocking and protecting second place."

Hodgson improved to third place his best finish of the year to move into third place in the championship. Bayliss passed Kawasaki's Akira Yanagawa and his Ducati team-mate Ben Bostrom to take fourth with Haga fifth.

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