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SBK, Pedro Acosta and Yuki Takahashi, how to win from the pit lane

In Japan, at Motegi, just a few hours before the Spaniard, Yuki Takahashi won the ST1000 race starting from the pit lane for changing the engine  

SBK: Pedro Acosta and Yuki Takahashi, how to win from the pit lane

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Achieving a victory after starting from the pit lane seems to be becoming the fashion of the moment. Last weekend, enthusiasts and fans witnessed the extraordinary comeback of rookie Pedro Acosta in Moto3 in Losail, but probably few people know that, just a few hours earlier, something similar was happening on the other side of the world. We are talking about the All Japan Road Race Championship (the main motorcycle championship in the land of the Rising Sun), more precisely in the ST1000 class (or Superstock 1000 if you prefer ..), the curtain-raiser event on the Motegi track. The protagonist of the story is the well-known Yuki Takahashi, who produced a sensational comeback after starting from the pit lane. A unique double event of its kind which, paradoxically, linked Japan to Qatar through the same “modus operandi”.

A noteworthy resume

A rider with proven international experience and for years within Honda’s racing programs, the man from Saitama made his debut in the 125cc World Championship thanks to the HRC Racing Scholarship youth program. From a past also in 250cc (two victories), MotoGP, Moto2 (one victory in 2010 in Barcelona), FIM EWC and World SBK, one-time ARRC SS600 2015 Champion, in 2017 he returned to racing on a permanent basis in his homeland. In the same championship in which he won J-GP250 in 2004 and for two consecutive years J-GP2 (2014-2015), following an up and down period in the JSB1000 top class, from last season he opted to join up with the Honda Dream T.Pro. Innovation team in the new ST1000 category. In hindsight it proved to be a spot-on decision, so much so that he scored the first historic win in the category in an exciting final act at Suzuka.

The race on Sunday

Created to replace J-GP2 (the Japanese Moto2 championship..), ST1000 boasts the presence on the grid of 35 riders. On the same weekend of the World Championship, the opening race at the Twin Ring Motegi was held in very particular conditions: cloudy skies, low temperatures, a few drops of rain and a slightly damp track. In all this, Takahashi (edged out in Saturday's qualifying by Ikuhiro Enokido by a paltry 18 thousandths) should have started from the number 2 slot, but was forced to change an engine. The result was that he had to start from the pit lane.

With the race reduced from 14 to 12 laps, the decisive factor proved to be the choice of Dunlop tyres, whether to stay on slicks or risk rain tyres. Having opted for the dry compound and despite being clearly way behind the group, the 36-year-old already at the end of the first lap found himself in 26th position, but then incredibly ninth three laps later (!!). On the #1 CBR 1000RR-R, with track conditions improving, after securing the podium by overtaking Kazuma Watanabe, in the middle of the race he saw off veteran Tatsuya Yamaguchi (Champion JSB1000 2002, Champion ST600 2010-2011 and former ARRC), who was in massive difficulty on wet tyres as you can easily guess from the photos below taken from his social channels.

 

Subsequently it was the turn of the provisional leader Cocoro Atsumi, also on rain tyres , at the Victory Corner. The final five laps turned out to be an outstanding sequence of fast laps, with Takahashi unstoppable. At the finish line he preceded by more than seven seconds his brand mate Kazuma Watanabe (2013 ST600 Champion, as well as old acquaintance of the JSB1000, FIM EWC and 125cc World Championship), with even 21” gap over Yuki Okamato (former CIV SS600 and ST600 Champion 2018-2020), promoted to third place following a penalty for Takuya Tsuda.

We know very well what happened in the Moto3 race. We are not saying that the Spaniard won by virtue of his age and his radically different record (at the moment), but both made a chapter of history by joining together two countries thousands of kilometres apart. Motorcycle racing never ceases to amaze.

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