Atsuta's factory RM-Z450 is very much the same works bike he raced in last year's championship. "I asked my bosses, 'I have been on Suzuki for four years now and I have raced the same bike,'" he joked. "And they said, 'What, is your bike not good enough?'" Atsuta said that his bike is amazing, and that he feels it is the best on the track. As the old American adage goes, "If it's not broken, don't fix it."
The works Showa SFF Air Forks on the factory Suzukis were works of art. We know it's an aesthetic feature, but the flo yellow anodizing made the RM-Z forks seem cooler than the rest.
Here's a closer look at the nitrogen charging valves on the SFF Air Forks.
Before Atsuta took to the track, we spotted a team suspension tech monitoring the gas pressure in the SFF Air forks.
Yoshitaka Atsuta is the lead rider on the Suzuki team. He may be familiar to some American race fans, as he has contested several AMA Nationals in the past.
Yohei Kojima also rides for the factory Suzuki team.
Kojima was third overall in Kyushu, with a solid second in moto one and a sixth in race two.
Initially, we thought that the radiator shrouds on Atsuta's bike featured a new shape...
TAGS: 2013 bikes, japan nationals, japanese motocross, spy photos
