Japan was one of the first countries to have a championship in the Moto2 category, replacing the 250, from 2010. It did not compete with Supersport, which does not exist in this country, nor with Superstock 600, very close to the series.
In J-GP2, the regulations are much more liberal, and Naomichi Uramoto managed to win the 2016 title on his Suzuki “GSX-proto71” from the Kagayama team. The J-P2 in fact includes Moto2 and prototypes with a 600 cc engine, with certain limits.
The assortment of equipment on the grid is quite heterogeneous, but does not lack charm due to its exotic side. Curiously, seen from the West, Kalex, Suter and other Mistral are not represented in this eastern championship. This will now be done this year with a Speed Up chassis for Masaki Tokudome. It's the same Tokudome who raced in 125 Grands Prix from 1994 to 98, then in 250 between 1999 and 2005. That doesn't make us any younger, and neither does he who will celebrate his forty-year anniversary next week (February 14). sixth birthday. Masaki left a very honorable memory with 5 victories, 11 podiums, 5 poles and 3 fastest laps in the race. He finished runner-up in the 125cc World Champion in 3 on Aprilia, behind Haruchika Aoki and ahead of Tomomi Manako. The Japanese had some form at the time, because the same year Noboru Ueda finished seventh in the world just ahead of Kazuto Sakata.
Masaki Tokudome is still wiggling on the handlebars and has just won the 2016 Japanese Moto3 Championship. He is therefore switching to Moto2 this season, and has just bought a Speed Up SF16 chassis from Luca Boscoscuro. This chassis will be equipped with a Honda engine, because the attachment points already exist and it would be relatively tedious to modify everything to fit a Yamaha or Suzuki unit. The tires are Bridgestone.
To know all the secrets of the Speed Up, Yuzo Fujioka, Tokudome's chief mechanic, was trained in Italy by the manufacturer.
Here is the final race of the Japanese J-GP2 Championship at Suzuka
Photos: MFJ Japan Championship
