Suzuki celebrate 50 years in grand style at the tt

The 2010 Isle of Man TT races finished in grand style today, as the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Team came to town to celebrate Suzuki’s 50th anniversary of International racing, with Italian legend Loris Capirossi and the GSV-R 800 MotoGP machine.

With Capirossi making his maiden visit to the Island, the MotoGP rider, who started his 300th Grand Prix in Qatar at the start of the season, arrived on Wednesday to acclimatise himself with the Isle of Man before riding the 37.73 mile course.

Come final race day (today), Capirossi led away the Suzuki anniversary parade on a Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000 for his first ever lap of the famous TT course, afterwards commenting, "This place is incredible. I’ve seen the TV footage before, but nothing prepares you for the TT course. The surface is much bumpier than I imagined and when you see the speeds that these guys run at, it is simply amazing. It’s a fantastic event that you could never replicate anywhere else in the world."

As the final race of the week concluded, Suzuki signed-off the TT fortnight with the first ever lap of the course by a MotoGP machine, with Relentless Suzuki by TAS TT racer Cameron Donald, riding the GSV-R and setting a fastest top speed down Sulby straight at 202mph.

Donald commented, "Man, that was just amazing. I thought the bike would be really difficult and twitchy to ride, but it was great. I was expecting to ride a steady lap, but it was so good that I was able to get a great rhythm going and pick up a fast pace. In fact, it was so good, I reckon we need to get some regulation changes for next year, as this thing with a few more laps on it, would really fly here."

Despite not intending to smash any records, Donald still managed to set the highest top-speed of the event, with the 202mph he recorded on the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R down Sulby straight.

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