Motorcycle ace Damian Cudlin will fly out to Japan on Monday in preparation for the next round of the World Endurance Championship, the prestigious Suzuka 8 hour race. Damian currently sits 4th in the World Championship standings, however as the Championship reaches the halfway point in Japan, he hopes to improve his position in the title chase.

“The next 2 rounds are the most critical in the championship and can really make or break your year” said the 22 year old. “But I see it as my chance to recover the points gap between myself and the leaders. If we come away from Japan with
a strong result, then back it up with another one in Germany, I could still win this thing. It ain’t over yet”

The Suzuka 8 hour remains the single biggest race on the motorcycling calendar, with previous winners including Australian World Champions Mick Doohan and Wayne Gardner.  Damian is looking forward to making his debut at Suzuka but concedes that it’s going to be difficult as he's never seen the circuit before. “It’s not going to be easy to learn that circuit in the time I have, that’s probably the biggest problem that I’ll face - but I’ll be do my best. I should be alright.”

Having just recovered from surgery on his arm to repair damage from a previous injury, Damian believes he’ll be fitter than ever for his next assault. “I’ve been working with Tony from the Taree Aquatic and Leisure Centre for the last 12 months on my fitness and it’s made a difference. The surgery I had recently was just to clean out some scar tissue that I had from a broken wrist years ago. It feels better already, so now I just can’t wait to get on the bike and go racing.”

JUST IN FROM CHRISTOPHE GUYOT - GMT94 TEAM MANAGER:
Yamaha 94 has finished 15th and 14th in the two races of the world superbike championship at Brno (Czech Republic). After the race, David Checa looked extremely disappointed, as he had been expecting to reach the top eight though he sounded quite optimistic after practice. All the team would like to congratulate him about his race: he made so much effort and gave us such memorable moments to enjoy.

We had gone to Brno with a Yamaha R1 prepared in race configuration and an engine fitted with the basic kit parts: camshafts, valves, ignition and alternator. At the end of the first practice session, David was in 22nd position. At the end of the second one, he had gone up into 18th . We then decided to use an engine fitted with all the kit parts (pistons, gear box, etc.) as well as a cylinder head that had been wonderfully prepared by Michel Guerre’s expert hands.
The third sessions looked promising with David was zigzagging between second and fourth positions during the first fifty minutes - the team was over the moon watching David Checa literally having fun with the new engine.  At the end of the session, he lost a few places when everybody had used their qualifying tyres, so he ended up 8th. And there he was, very proud of being 10th in the aggregate practice results, ready to hold out on big champions such as Noriyuka HAGA or Norifumi ABE.

Unfortunately, during practice just before the Superpole , we had a nasty surprise when David came back in with overheating problems. The head cylinder had packed up ….
So he had to jump onto the "small engine" bike, in really low spirits and with so little room for improvement in his timed lap.
Guess what happened then! Unbelievable! David managed to squeeze into 10th position between Régis LACONI and Norifumi ABE!!!
With his 9th position in warm up we had started hoping again, though this engine was only rated in 22nd position in top speed and we knew we were suffering lack of power compared to the superbike engine prepared by Michel.
During each of the races, David only managed to get into the first bend in 15th position and could not overtake the other bikes as they were outdistancing him in the straights.
Of course David was pretty disappointed but for sure he is not to blame! We have no regret either, as we had not been able to test the "big" engine before. We are a bit short of budgets so we wanted to keep enough for reconditioning it afterwards.
Fortunately, the fault Michel has spotted is not irreparable and we can count on our performance tuner to get the bike ready for Magny-Cours, our next race in the world superbike championship.
Noriyuki HAGA’s victory on a Yamaha R1 and Norifumi ABE’s fourth position in the second race have shown it’s always worth persevering.
But for the time being, all the team has to roll up their sleeves and prepare the next Bol d’Or. Both David and the mechanics are already focusing on the next big challenge – the one so dear to us. The superbike machine has to be “put between brackets” until end of September. We’ll be back for official superproduction test days at Magny Cours at the end of August.

It will also be the opportunity to see Sébastien Gimbert again: after the two races he has missed due to injury he is now looking forward to proving he is really back to help David Checa et William Costes in a big way.

Current British Supersport leader, 18-year-old Leon Camier from Ashford in Kent in the southern United Kingdom, has been offered a factory ride in the prestigious Suzuka 8-Hour race on the 31st July 2005, on board a Honda Fireblade with the Moriwaki Team. Camier who is a five-times British Grasstrack Champion and the youngest ever British 125 Champion is eagerly awaiting his trip to Japan.

The 5.8 km circuit owned by Honda, will run from 11:30am to 7pm on the 31st July and Camier and his team-mate, Naoki Matsudo will change over every 50 minutes in hope of running up there with the front runners. The historic race has been won by some huge names in the motorcycle fraternity including Wayne Gardner, Aaron Slight, Colin Edwards, the awesome Valentino Rossi - and Camier's racing hero Mick Doohan, to name but a few.

Camier, who has now notched up four race wins in the British Supersport class this season (more than any other rider this year), is excited about this opportunity, saying "This is one race that I've always wanted to do and to get this chance so early in my career is fantastic. When I was offered the ride about a month ago I jumped at the chance, knowing it would be too much of a fantastic opportunity to turn down. I'm flying out to Japan a week before the race so that I can get myself acclimatised and also get a bit of testing under my belt on the Fireblade. It's such an historic race that I will be proud to be a part of. I hope Naoki and I can achieve some good results out there".

Camier's team-mate, Naoki Matsudo for the tough Endurance race is experienced GP125, GP250 and is Japanese 250cc Champion. The Japanese star is an extremely talented rider and, between the both of them, they should expect a confident result. Matsudo celebrates his 32nd birthday on the 25th of July will bring plenty of knowledge and wisdom into the team.

For more information on Leon Camier and to keep up to speed with his progress at the Suzuka 8 Hour check out his website.

SUZUKA SPONSORSHIP WITH PHASE ONE

Ten Kate Honda World Superbike rider Chris Vermeulen  will be riding one of the HRC factory Honda CBR1000RR-W Seven Stars Fireblades. World Supersport rider Katsuaki Fujiwara was supposed to be riding with him but the Japanese ace crashed his HRC Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade on Wednesday 6 July while testing at Suzuka in Japan, sustaining injuries to his lower back...a cracked vertebrae which normally takes about 4 weeks to heal. The Ten Kate team thinks he'll be OK for Brands Hatch but meanwhile he'll take the time to recover and stay with his family in Chiba, Japan. The other Seven Stars HRC CBR1000RR-W looks like it will be ridden by Tady Okada and British Superbikes rider Ryuchi Kiyonari.

For all the guys...look closely and you can just see the Motociclismo Aprilia...