Japanese riders intimately familiar with the Suzuka circuit filled the leader board during qualifying for Sunday’s Suzuka 8-hour event.

Former multi-time Grand Prix champion, Freddie Spencer, was injured during practice, breaking bones in his hand. He has withdrawn from the race.

Spencer had come out of a lengthy retirement from racing to team with fellow American John Kocinski on a factory-backed Honda RC45 for the event. No word yet on who will partner Kocinski during Sunday’s race.

Check back tomorrow for Motorcycle Daily’s full report on race results.

Special Stage Qualifying Results

1. Shinichi Ito (2:09.210) Tohru Ukawa (2:10.316) Honda
2. Akira Yanagawa (2:09.388) Hitoyasu Izutsu (2:09.863) Kawasaki
3. Daihiro Kato (2:09.393) Makoto Tamada (2:10.525) Honda
4. Noriyuki Haga (2:09.719) Regis Laconi (2:11.868) Yamaha
5. Tadyuki Okada (2:09.719) Alex Barros (2:10.828) Honda
6. Freddie Spencer (2:18.394) John Kocinski (2:10.032) Honda
7. Wataru Yoshikawa (2:10.032) Takeshi Tsujimura (2:12.005) Yamaha
8. Keiichi Kitagawa (2:10.257) Akira Ryo (2:10.616) Suzuki
9. Shinya Takeishi (2:10.422) Tamaki Serizawa (2:11.263) Kawasaki
10. Aaron Slight (2:10.904) Colin Edwards (2:10.684) Honda
11. Atushi Watanabe (2:11.015) Chojun Kameya (2:12.466) Suzuki
12. Osamu Nishijima (2:11.545) Ryuji Tsuruta (2:11.938) Kawasaki
13. Jamie Hacking (2:11.788) Norihiko Fujiwara (2:12.860) Yamaha

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