Oct 4th, 2024
The 7th round of the MFJ All Japan Road Race Championship took place at Okayama International Circuit on September 28-29.
In the JSB1000 class, Nozane made a strong start from 3rd on the grid, moving up to 2nd place. On lap 4, he was overtaken by Ducati’s Mizuno and dropped to 3rd, but he continued to lap with the leading group. Midway through the race, a crash brought out the red flag, and the race was restarted with 15 laps remaining. Nozane once again moved up to 2nd, chasing Yamaha’s Okamoto, and on the second lap after the restart, he clocked a time of 1:29.964. Only Okamoto, who won the race, and Nozane managed to break into the 1:29 range during the final. Despite being overtaken later on, Nozane fought hard and finished in 4th place.
In the ST1000 class, Sakumoto started from 9th on the grid and picked up pace in the middle of the race. However, while chasing the group ahead, he unfortunately crashed on the exit of a corner. Sakumoto retired from the race but vowed to come back stronger in the final round.
Also in the ST1000 class, Hada once again stood in for Watanabe. Starting from 2nd on the grid, Hada made an excellent start and took the lead. He engaged in a fierce battle with Team HARC-PRO's Kunii, who was on the verge of claiming the series championship. With two laps remaining, Hada overtook Kunii on the inside of a corner but ran wide, allowing Kunii to pull away. Hada finished 2nd but secured consecutive podiums following his success in round 6 at Autopolis.
The final round of the All Japan Road Race Championship will take place on October 26-27 at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture.