Sometimes, no matter what you do, things never go right. That happens with racing, too.
It was 2011 MFJ Motocross Round 6, Kinki Race, the first race of the second half of the season after the summer break. It was run on September 9 to 10 at the Meihan Sports Land, a multipurpose complex built for go-karts, on-road and motocross in Yamazoe-mura, Yamabe-gun, Nara. Located near the border with Mie Prefecture, in the mountainous area of northeastern Nara, it should have been autumn weather, but because of lingering high pressure over the Pacific Ocean, fierce heat above 30°C persisted throughout the event.
The SEKI Racing MotoRoman & KBF-RS, whom Denso supports, entered four riders in the race: Yuui Hoshino, Kenji Tomita, Yoshiaki Iida and Haruna Masu. Of the four, eyes were on the 5th ranked Yuui Hoshino who prior to the race had been on the IA2 Class winner’s stand five times this season, and Haruna Masu, who had already posted four victories this season and was the champion of the Ladies Class three times in a row.
In Saturday’s prelims, Hoshino, racing in Group A, had a good start and fought out a tough battle with the top ranked Takuya Mihara, keeping Mihara at bay all the way to the end to finish first. Masu finished tops in the prelims for Group B as no rival came even close. These performances elevated hopes for even more action in the finals.
The first heat of the IA2 finals had 30 machines across in a line and started with a tense dash to the first turn. This thrill and power are what make motocross popular, but one machine crashed involving others around. Hoshino got caught in the accident and fell. He somehow got back up and found himself trying to catch up from last place. Hoshino gradually improved his position passing three riders on the second lap, two on the third and six on the fourth, recovering to 11^th place in the tenth lap, which was the turning point of the race. At this point, there was a lot of distance between him and the top group, but he never quit as he pressed on until the very end. Hoshino gained one more place from 11^th to finish 10^th in the second half.
The Ladies Class was the first of the afternoon program. Using the Iridium Power IU24 spark plugs, Masu reacted quickly as soon as the gate went down. Accelerating all the way to the first turn, she left her rivals behind and beautifully captured the hole shot. Having missed Round 5 with a shoulder injury, Masu was in her comeback race. She crossed the control line on the first lap in second place while observing the preceding rider carefully. The accident that had put her out occurred in the showdown as she was closing in on the leader. Masu extended her jump in attempt to catch up, but she landed on a rough line, lost her balance and fell. Because she fell upon landing her jump, she got a slight concussion. She managed to get up, summon her courage and finish out the race, but ended in 15^th place. She should have just pulled out of the race, but she got back in it and continued battling all the way to the checkered flag, exhibiting the strong fighting spirit she has.
In the second heat of the IA2, Hoshino, who was buried in the middle of the pack at the start, but rode aggressively and cleared the opening lap in eighth place, improved to fifth place and rode in the top group in the first half of the race. In the second half of the race, Hoshino passed in rapid succession the equally experienced and talented Tomonori Nakamura and Makoto Ogata to jump up in position. While putting pressure on second place Yutaka Hoshino, he closed the gap on the leader Takuya Mihara and put himself in the contest. He had a clear determination of when to compete. On the last lap, Hoshino was neck-and-neck with the preceding riders as they raced for the line, and even took over the lead at one point. However, the approach to the last series of jumps, which he saved for the last chance, was rough. Hoshino lost his balance at the onset and fell back to third. He was still in third when he took the checkered flag, which put him on the winner’s stand for the sixth time this season. There was but a 2.5 sec difference from the leader. There was far more regret on the victory stand than there was joy.
Life would be great if everything went as planned. But, regret is fuel for getting better. Both Yuui Hoshino and Haruna Masu know that the real race has yet to come.