Suzuki's all-new RM-Z450 four-stroke motocross machine made a sensational
debut at the recent final round of the All-Japan MX Championship series,
producing lap times faster than wild-card entry, multi-world champion Stefan
Everts, in the preliminary heat.
Team Suzuki's Akira Narita had already secured his second consecutive All-Japan
250 MX title on board his RM250 at the penultimate round, and with just
one practice session on the new RM-Z450, was still coming to terms with
Suzuki's new four-stroke racer.
In the first championship moto, Narita fell victim to a multiple crash
on the first lap. Re-starting, he was making fast progress through the
field, recording the second fastest lap of the day in the process, but
fell again towards the end of the race and finished out of the points.
In the second moto, Narita made a superb start and entered a fierce battle
with Honda's World MXGP contender, Yoshitaka Atsuta. The intensity of the
battle and Narita's lack of track time on the new RM-Z450 started to tell
and both he and Atsuta fell back as Everts and Suzuki team mate Kazumasa
Masudato on the RM250 came past, followed by Takeshi Katsuya. Narita held
on to take fifth place at the flag.
Akira NARITA: "It was just my second ride on the machine today. I didn't
really have enough time on the new RM-Z450 to learn the differences between
the two-stroke and four-stroke, but the new bike has massive power, even
at low revs and handled really well once I got used to the different characteristics.
I think we showed that the new machine will be a serious threat next year
and Suzuki will use the winter period to make it into a race winner."
In the 125cc Championship races Tetsuya Mizuguchi clinched the title on
the Kawasaki KX250FS-R that has been jointly developed alongside the Suzuki
XRM0 development machine for the RM-Z250 production model.
ACTION PICTURES OF NARITA RIDING THE RM-Z450 CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM THE
WORLD NEWS SECTION OF THE PICTURE LIBRARY ON THE TEAM SUZUKI WEBSITE AT:
www.suzuki-racing.com
The RM-Z450 debut race
I was there at the race track to watch the race.
I think Narita's RM-Z was somewhat damaged other than the obvious damage to the rear fender as it sounded somewhat boggy during the first moto. May be something wrong with the silencer.
In between motos, Suzuki hid the bike behind screens as they were working.
Narita did much better in the second moto, but it looked like he had trouble carving tight turns and he was perpetually taking the outside line when he could.
Sure hope the RM-Z is not going to wind up like their MotoGP GSV-R.