Casey Stoner on that huge Suzuka crash
HRC confirm Stoner crash in the Suzuka 8 Hours was due to throttle mechanical issue.
Honda Racing Corporation has carried out a detailed analysis following the crash of Casey Stoner in last weekend’s Suzuka 8 Hour race.
Checking the throttle, which is a particular specification for Endurance HRC Factory bikes, and different from the standard throttle used on the Honda CBR1000RR road version, a malfunction was discovered related to the throttle cable.
This kind of problem hasn’t arisen before, however, HRC will cease using this throttle specification and will design a new one to be used for Endurance races.
HRC would like to apologise to Casey Stoner and thank him for the effort he made in attending the Suzuka 8 Hour event.
Story below as published earlier
Casey Stoner’s sickening crash at the Suzuka 8 Hour, as showcased in this FIM video, has left the 29-year-old nursing a broken shoulder and fractured ankle.
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The crash happened at Suzuka Hairpin, 70-minutes into the race, while Stoner was leading.
HRC staff checked the machine, and confirmed from the data that the throttle was 26 degrees open before the crash. It wasn’t clear why this happened and now the bike will be sent to HRC for a full inspection.
The machine can be heard on the rev-limiter in the video as Casey tries to wash off speed, but couldn’t, due to the throttle remaining partially open and the bike was still trying to accelerate. Obviously something had to give and it was the front tyre as Casey ran off the circuit.
Casey Stoner – “I am really disappointed that the Suzuka 8 hours has ended like this. We have done a lot of work over the last few weeks to get accustomed to the bike and the track and work towards a setting that made all of us quite comfortable.
“We really felt that the race and everything had gone as we planned so far, we were very relaxed and comfortable and making sure we saved the tyres and the fuel to stretch the stint as long as we could.
“Unfortunately, we experienced some mechanical trouble as I was going through the corner leading up to the hairpin. I did not have enough time to engage the clutch and I came in with too much speed, I picked the bike up to try to slow down more but I was heading towards the wall so I decided to lay it over and hit the barrier but unfortunately, they were a lot harder than they looked and we came out of it with a broken bone in the ankle and broken scapular.
“I want to say thanks to my team mates Michael van der Mark and Takumi Takahashi, – they have done a fantastic job over these weeks and this weekend especially. And I would also like to thank the team for how much effort everybody has put in. Their professionalism was outstanding and I really enjoyed working with them. I am very sorry that we could not achieve the strong result I believe we could have.”
Shigeki Honda, Team Manager – “Casey Stoner encouraged the whole team during this week at the Suzuka 8 hour endurance race, especially in the Top 10 trial. He demonstrated aggressive riding to climb to 1st early in the race, but sadly he crashed out. As a result, we missed out on an opportunity for three consecutive victories, but this is the Suzuka 8 hours where anything can happen. I express my appreciation to all our fans and we wish Casey a speedy recovery. We’ll be back next year!”
Takumi Takahashi – “We didn’t have the best feeling throughout the race week and entered the race with some setup issues. In my stint, I still had some setup problems and I was forced to hold back slightly. I wanted to be in the front at the end of my stint but could not do this as there were too much risk of crashing. I am sorry for Casey. I still have the last half of the All Japan road race series remaining and I now look forward to next year’s Suzuka 8 hour race.”
Michael van der Mark – “Today was a disappointing race. I think we had a strong pace compared to the other teams and a good result was definitely possible, but these things happen in racing. Casey was really unlucky with the crash. I hope he will be in fit soon.”
Full Blow by Blow Report on Suzuka 8 Hours 2015
Yamaha reflect on Suzuka 8 Hours success
Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Road Race 2015 Results
1st – #21 – YAMAHA FACTORY RACING TEAM (Nakasuga, Espargarò, Smith) – Yamaha YZF-R1 – Laps 204 – Total Time 8:00’29.708
2nd – #778 – F.C.C. TSR Honda (Hook, Smith, Aegerter) – Honda CBR1000RR – Laps 204 – +1’17.411
3rd – #17 – Team KAGAYAMA (Kagayama, Haga, Riyonary) – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Laps 203 – +1lap
4th – #30 – Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (Philippe, Delhalle, Masson) – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Laps 202 – +2laps
5th – #12 – Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance (Tsuda, Waters, Lowes) – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Laps 201 – +3laps
6th – #94 – GMT94 YAMAHA (Checa, Foray, Gines) – Yamaha YZF-R1 – Laps 201 – +3laps
7th – Honda Endurance Team (Da Costa, Gimbert, Foray) – Honda CBR1000RR – Laps 201 – +3laps
8th – Honda Suzuka Racing Team (Hiura, Kamei, Yasuda) – Honda CBR1000RR – Laps 200 – +4laps
9th – #87 – Team GREEN (Yanagawa, Yudhistira, Watanabe) – Kawasaki ZX-10R – Laps 199 – +5laps
10th – #32 – MotoMap SUPPLY (Konno, Aoki, Ogata) – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Laps 199 – +5laps
Full Blow by Blow Report on Suzuka 8 Hours 2015
