#705 Matsumoto Clinic Garage Speed wins overwhelmingly!

The 'Open Mote tai' enters its second year with machines of 250cc and below with 2 cylinders. A total of 77 machines lined up on the grid, with the top 39 from qualifying forming Group 1, and the rest in Group 2. A clean start was made at the scheduled time of 10:00 with a Le Mans-style start.

The pole position starter #21 SP3 & Amphini & Madoka Design took the holeshot, followed by a strong dash from #1 Bulldozer Tagos & Haruman from the 4th grid, along with #705 Matsumoto Clinic Garage Speed, #23 Moto Clutch & WAKO'S, #78 NAPA & Utashiro + One Make, #20 Success & KTS Shonan, and #16 Team K's.

Returning from the opening lap in the lead was #23 Motoclutch & WAKO'S, followed by #705 Matsumoto Clinic Garage Speed, #78 NAPA & Utashiro + One Make, and #21 SP3 & Anfini & Madoka Design. By the second lap, #78 NAPA & Utashiro + One Make had risen to the top. #705 Matsumoto Clinic Garage Speed closely marked this, and these two bikes led the race. In the early stages of the race, the top group consisted of four bikes: #705 Matsumoto Clinic Garage Speed, #78 NAPA & Utashiro + One Make, #21 SP3 & Anfini & Madoka Design, and #23 Motoclutch & WAKO'S. The starting rider for #78 NAPA & Utashiro + One Make was Yusuke Yamashita, and the starting rider for #705 Matsumoto Clinic Garage Speed was Takehiko Kurokawa, both of whom have a history of success in the All Japan Road Race Championship. In particular, Kurokawa is still competing in the All Japan ST600 class and even secured pole position at last year's Twin Ring Motegi round. Masaki Kanai, the rider for #21 SP3 & Anfini & Madoka Design, is also a former All Japan Rider, but this was his first road race in 13 years. Among them, the performance of Mitsuyoshi Machida from #23 Motoclutch & WAKO'S stood out.

However, in the 7th lap, Kurokawa took the lead and increased the pace. The only one who could keep up with him was Yamashita. By the 15th lap, Kurokawa marked the fastest lap of the race at 2 minutes 21.465 seconds, seemingly establishing a solo lead. However, after making contact with a backmarker, Yamashita moved ahead. After that, when Yamashita entered the pit first, Kurokawa regained the lead. Behind them, #42 Team GTMM & Kawasaki Mercury was rising.

It was expected to be a battle between the incredibly fast drivers, Kurokawa and Yamashita, but other teams also maintained consistent lap times, preventing any runaway leader.

Around the time the race passed the halfway point, #78 NAPA & Utashiro + One Make fell at the S corner. They dropped significantly in rank and fell out of the top competition. Meanwhile, from this point on, #705 Matsumoto Clinic Garage Speed, #21 SP3 & Anfini & Madoka Design, #42 Team GTMM & Kawasaki Mercury, and #23 Moto Clutch & WAKO'S occupied the top 4, with positions changing at the timing of pit stops.

At the point when there was 1 hour left, these 4 teams and [#37 TEAM Ikeda Taxi & TC Bad Boys + M's] were on the same lap with 132 laps, but in the end, [#705 Matsumoto Clinic Garage Speed], with Kurokawa as the driver, quickly pulled away from the second place and beyond, running a total of 155 laps to win the "Open Mote tai." "We didn't have any strategy at all. I thought fuel consumption would be tough, so I shifted up early at 11,500 RPM. However, it was also significant that everyone updated their best times during the race. I'm honestly happy to have won the 'Mote tai' for the first time," said driver Kurokawa.

In 2nd place was [#21 SP3 & Anfini & Madoka Design], and in 3rd place was [#42 Team GTMM & Kawasaki Mercury], who made it to the podium. In 4th place was [#45 Racing Garage STR], who gained positions in the latter part of the race, followed by [#37 TEAM Ikeda Taxi & TC Bad Boy + M's] and [#23 Moto Clutch & WAKO'S].