Brodie Waters Suzuka win on debut makes history

Brodie Waters has teamed with Yoshi Miyajiwa to win the famous Suzuka 4 hour race for the Moriwaki Racing Team.

From the moment he got the call from the Moriwaki team to go to Japan and compete in the Suzuka 4 hour endurance race, Brodie Waters was only focused on winning. 

The media at the track were amazed at the 18 year old's fixed purpose for being there. When Brodie was asked in the interviews what he wanted to acheive in his first time at Suzuka his reply was "I have come here to win" and he didn't back down from that commitment all weekend.

In the week leading up to the event Brodie was hands on in the workshop with the team. The set up of the bike had to suit both Brodie and his teammate Yoshi Miyajiwa. The team also practiced over and over the pit stop routine.

Both riders were fast in practice on Thursday and the team decision for Friday's qualifying session was for Yoshi to go out first on the new tyres and set the pace for the field. The plan held for most of the field then when Yoshi's time was bettered the team looked to Brodie.

Brodie's qualifying time put the team on Pole by 0.9 seconds. The team was elated and had duel celebration that evening for Moriwaki and Elias' Moto 2 win the week before and the young team who were on pole the next morning.

Sunday morning and Suzuka was warming up to be one of the hottest days in the history of the event. Yoshi took the Le Mans start for the team and finished the first leg of the race in 3rd position. The pit stop practices paid off and the times during race were between 12 and 15 seconds, often giving the Moriwaki team a 10 second advantage on the out laps.

Brodie's first stint on the CBR600 saw him move the team into first position. It wasn't without incident. As Brodie described it, "the first turn at Suzuka is like Philip Island and I tucked the front end and nearly lost it. I got the bike back and then did it again, manageing to save it by running off wide. I came back on in 3rd place and had to do the hard work again to get back in the lead."

Yoshi's second stint kept the team in the lead and he and Brodie alternated until the final stint. Brodie took the bike for the final 12 laps with the team instructions to take it easy and win well. These are the type of instructions a rider lives for and Brodie had no problem riding the bike across the finish line and taking the checkered flag for the team. Celebrations took over with Brodie's performance on the bike back to the pits as exciting as the race.

Podium, Trophy, Champagne and celebrations rounded out the day for the team.

Now Brodie is back at home in Victoria and ready to bring that winning feeling to Queensland Raceway in August for the Australian Championship.