Australasian Dirt Bike — January 2018

http://www.adbmag.com.au JANUARY 2018 | 191

The raw octopus was a bit

much, even for Hoges

The factory bikes looked slick, but Lee
wasn’t allowed to ride t!

T

he term “trip of a

lifetime” gets thrown

around pretty loosely

but when you receive

an invitation to fly to

Japan business class

and spend a week on

tour with the likes of Ricky

Carmichael and a small group of

moto noters, you know you’re in for

one heck of a time.

The purpose of this trip was the

unveiling of the 2018 Suzuki

RM-Z450 machine, a model that the

company was hoping would raise the

bar world-wide. For some reason,

only Ricky got to ride the production

bike on this trip and we got to ride

the factory version.

WELCOME TO JAPAN

Upon arrival in Tokyo we were taken

for a tour of the famous fish markets

and got our first experience of the

culture and local cuisine. The fact

that my favourite food back home is,

basically, any form of Japanese

meant that, as you could imagine, I

was in heaven from the get go.

That was not the case for some of

the other International Journos. Our

first port of call at the fish markets

was a ‘stand up’ sushi bar. We are

talking street-side eating with only

enough room for four people to stand

at a bench where a chef serves you

up some of the freshest seafood you

will ever taste.

I’m one to give anything a go but

the raw octopus was almost too

much. And once we’d left the sushi

bar and started walking deeper into

the market we walked past what

looked like the wicked witch of the

weststirringamassivepot of broth

bbling.

assistant to

otorcycle

smell was

octopus

nce just

m that, the

experience

CHAMPIONSHIPS

After that eventful day we checked

into our hotel and met up with the

American journos for dinner. The

following morning we hopped on a

bullet train and travelled almost the

length of Japan in a flash, and were

heading out to the Sugo circuit for a

round of the All-Japan Motocross

Championships. During the lunch

break, Carmichael was doing a

demonstration ride for the fans.

The day was an absolute blast.

The media crew were allowed to

place themselves in all kinds of

precarious positions on the track,

snapping photos of the local riders.

Sugo is extremely picturesque, with

rolling hills like you’d expect to see

on an MXGP or AMA circuit.

Having full access to the track, only

centimetres from the riders, was

something special.

From the moment you arrive in

Japan you get an overwhelming

feeling of respect, pride and

politeness from the local people.

And that was the case at Sugo. It

was such a well-run race day and

the schedule ran like clockwork.

The riders were impressive, the

track was world-class and the

facilities were mind blowing such

as the start-line back drop, the

podium area and the amazing Bose

speakers for the broadcasting of the

commentary.

But without a doubt the most

mind-blowing part of the day was

the factory bikes. Each of the factory

teams was represented in fine

fashion and you need to remember

that this series is seen as the major

development ground for Japanese

motocrossers.

There were more 2018 models

getting around than you could poke

a stick at but there were even

rumours getting around that the

bike that factory Honda pilot Akira

Narita was riding had parts from

the 2019 model.