Maxwell Finishes Fifth At First Time Suzuka 300

Wayne Maxwell finished in an impressive fifth position overall at the Suzuka 300 on board his Sakurai Team Honda CBR1000RR.

Maxwell and team mate Chojun Kayema qualified in third behind TSR Honda and Yoshimura Suzuki with the Australian rider clocking in at 2.11.64, just a few seconds off the more experienced Japanese competitors.

"I had to reuse the same tyres in qualifying as we are restricted to two sets, but managed to steadily improve my time on a 24 lap old rear tyre, so we were all pretty happy with that," Maxwell explained.

"The warm up was good and I improved to 2.10.70 with full fuel."

"From there, we went on to actually lead the race a couple of times, but the weather made it difficult and I pitted too early. I guess it was a bit of inexperience on my part, but overall I'm happy with the result."

In regard to taking on a 300 km race for the first time, Maxwell said it is definitely tough.

"The conditions were difficult for sure changing between rain and dry the whole time, but it's probably going to be even tougher for the 8 hour so it was good experience. We have some testing organised in between now and the end of July which will help."

"The Team was really supportive and helpful and I can't thank them enough."

The Suzuka 8 Hour round of the World Endurance Championship is scheduled for July 25th.