Aiming for SST class victory! Kaedear Racing Team Yokohama Announces Entry Structure for Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race in 2026.

On February 13, Kaedear, a manufacturer of motorcycle accessories in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, held an announcement of the Kaedear Racing Team Yokohama's entry in the 2026 Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Road Race at its new base in Yokohama, which has just relocated. One year after last year's dramatic and frustrating first entry in the race, this year'sgoal is to achieve the long-sought SST class victory.

Continuing from last year, the team is teaming up with a prestigious French team.

In the 2026 season, Kaedear will further strengthen its partnership with the prestigious French racing team RAC41, with which it teamed up last year, and take on the Suzuka 8 Hours SST class as Kaedear Racing Team Yokohama. The team's goal is to win the race, which they were unable to achieve last year. In addition, the team will also compete in the World Endurance Championship (EWC) as "Dafy-Kaedear-RAC41 HONDA. The machine is the Honda CBR1000RR-R, and the riders include ace driver Ken Ishizuka (Japan), who was instrumental in launching the team, Kevin Manfredi (Italy), who joined the team last year, Diego Ponce (France), and EWC member James Westmoreland (UK), who will join the team this year. Ishizuka, Kevin, and Diego will compete in the 8 Hours.The team will be owned by Tomohiro Iizawa, president of Kaedea Corporation, with Ryosuke Masuko of the company as manager and Junichiro Takahashi, who has extensive racing experience, in charge of the team as he did last year. Together with mechanics Mitsuo Takamine and Tomoya Nozaki, who know the disappointment of last year, and Koichi Murakami, who is in charge of telemetry, the team is now ready for what Representative Director Iizawa calls "the strongest lineup.

From right to left: team owner Tomohiro Iizawa, team manager Ryosuke Masuko, player Ken Ishizuka, manager Junichiro Takahashi, and Kaedea's character Kaemero-kun.

Representative Tomohiro Iizawa founded Kaedia in 2019. He is rapidly growing the Kaedia brand with his ideas and speed, including the industry's first smartphone holder with integrated wireless charger.

The presentation of the competition proceeded in the style of a talk show with Representative Iizawa, Manager Masuko, Ishizuka, and Director Takahashi.

The presentation also featured video messages from Kevin Manfredi, pictured, and RAC41 manager Julien Dighe, among others.

This year, the team is also strengthening its ties with its hometown of Yokohama, and since Iizawa used to be a mechanic for the Yokohama Municipal Bus Company, a wrapped bus decorated with the Kaedea logo and the words "Suzuka 8 Hours" will run through the city for the entire year.

The year 2026 will be a year of revenge, to make up for the disappointment of 2025!

The team that Ishizuka raced for in the Suzuka 8 Hours in 2024 was disbanded, and Iizawa said, "Then let's start a team at Kaedea! Iizawa said, "Then let's start a team at Caesarea! Because of this, the team's first race in 2025 was a real flurry of activity. As of the end of 2024, we hadn't even found a single mechanic," Takahashi explains.With time running out, the team made the difficult decision to completely separate "machine building" from "team member gathering," and asked Kohara Racing to build the machine and search for staff in parallel, an unprecedented system that enabled them to prepare for the race.

During the Suzuka 8 Hours in 2025. The team was on a real tightrope, as the painted cowl was not ready in time for the pre-test run (photo: Kaedea).

The 2025 Kaedear Racing Team had been doing well up to the halfway point, including leading the SST, and a first win in its first race was in sight... (Photo: Kaedear)

Ken Ishizuka is the ace and key man of the team. This year, in addition to the EWC, he will also be competing in the Bagger Racing European Cup, in which Harley's tourer models compete.

Team members' determination to win

The 2026 Kaedear Racing Team will be well prepared to take on the Suzuka 8 Hours, and their performance and times from last year make it clear that they are the favorites to win the SST class. Finally, we would like to introduce their enthusiasm for this year's Suzuka race.Tomohiro Iizawa, Team Owner: "(After calculating the costs incurred last year), I realized that we need to earn more money (laughs). (Laughs) So my role is to " fully focus on the business. Of course, I myself will be competing in the race, butI believe that the important factor for the team to win the championship isto grow the business.Many people sympathize with our racing activities, and wehave been able to bring inpeople with a wealth of experienceas members ofKaedea, so I am excited to be able to do even more (bycontinuing to race),I would like to establish a system that allows me to control things while performing the work of a mechanic and keeping an eye on those around me.Last year, there were alotof unnecessary actions, so I would like to eliminate them, speed up the pitwork itself, and create an environment that makes it easier to perform the work.Last year, we created our own jack-up system based on the know-how from RAC41, but this year, we want to shave off 10 seconds by further refining our ideas. T his year, we have a strong rider on a rival team, butIhaveno intention of giving up either the pole position or the win.Last year, I was going so well that I could say I was perfect right up to the final, so this year, I want to do my job as a rider so that I don't fall and can run at a consistent average.With their sights set on victory, the 2026 Kaedear Racing Team Yokohama will take on the Suzuka 8 Hours with full preparation and the strongest lineup. We look forward to watching their challenge to reach the top from Yokohama.

The presentation was held at Kaedea's new store (Yokohama Showroom) in Yokohama City. The showroom is usually used for displaying Kaedea products, where visitors can actually check them out and purchase them. The showroom will also be equipped with a work space to undertake installation. ◼️ Kaedea Yokohama Showroom (New) Esthar Tokaichiba, 557-1 Niiharu-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture 226-0017

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