Sportsland SUGO Celebrates 50 Years
A Japanese hillside filled with pace
Tucked into the rolling foothills of the Zao mountain vary in Murata, simply 25km from the colourful metropolis of Sendai, you’ll discover the undulating and picturesque Sportsland SUGO circuit. Owned by Yamaha Motor Firm, the venue opened in 1975 and this yr celebrates its fiftieth birthday.
From the outset, the transient was clear: construct a multi-discipline motorsport park that checks riders, drivers and machines. Half a century on, the complicated has earned a popularity for producing thrilling racing motion, having hosted Japan’s prime sequence on two- and four-wheeled machines. It has additionally welcomed a bunch of world stars alongside the way in which.
What units Sportsland SUGO aside from different circuits in Japan is the wide selection of competitors it could possibly host. The complicated options a world highway racing course, a world motocross course, and the CIK/FIA-certified Worldwide West Course for go-karts, gymkhana, and supermoto, in addition to a trials space and coaching fields. It’s the one venue in Japan with three internationally licensed programs that may run occasions concurrently.
The Worldwide Racing Course is the centrepiece of SUGO: a 3.621km ribbon (3.586km with out chicanes) whose 70m of elevation change and blind crests demand bravery each lap. There’s a 704m again straight, 10–12.5m of observe width, and a important straight that climbs for 600m at a punishing 10 per cent gradient. The encircling hillsides dictate the circuit’s rhythm with plunging descents that result in technical sequences and a full-commit cost to the road.
By means of the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties, SUGO advanced from Yamaha’s proving floor right into a fixture of Japan’s premier championships. Immediately’s calendar options the All Japan Highway Race sequence, Tremendous Taikyu, Tremendous Formulation, Tremendous GT, and Formulation Drift Japan, with motocross, trials, and karting additionally taking centre stage.
Jay Wilson has been based mostly in Japan racing and testing with Yamaha lately and received the 2024 All-Japan Motocross Championship.
Jay Wilson – 2024 All-Japan MX Champ on Sugo
“Sugo is Yamaha’s personal racetrack in Japan, and being a Yamaha Manufacturing unit rider myself, it’s at all times one among my favorite tracks to race at. Sugo is likely one of the few rounds of the All Japan Motocross Championship open to worldwide riders, so many large names in our sport have raced there. This yr, I used to be fortunate sufficient to share the observe with the 2025 World Champion Romain Febvre, and Sugo was truly the first-ever observe I raced in Japan, which kick-started the chapter of my profession racing and testing with YMC.
“The observe itself could be very bodily demanding, the ruts are deep, and Japanese ruts aren’t lengthy and constant; they’re sharp and aggressive, and it’s a must to be on a motorcycle setup, or it’s difficult to get round. The followers have views from all completely different areas – the KYB soar, the European part, and Sugo hill are all fairly iconic.
“Lastly, the followers at Sugo are particular. As a result of it’s the one spherical to get worldwide riders, they usually are extremely beneficiant – Final yr I used to be gifted a samurai sword there, and this yr we even acquired a customized Yamaha Manufacturing unit Racing pooper scooper for our canine – the followers put in an enormous effort to indicate their help to us riders, particularly at Sugo.”
Over time, SUGO has additionally welcomed World Superbike and Motocross Grand Prix rounds. Legends together with Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz, and Michael Doohan have conquered the course on two wheels, whereas Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher have turned quick laps on 4.
Mick Doohan took his maiden victory within the All-Japan Superbike Championship at Sugo in 1988 on a Yamaha FZR750 and was referred to as up later that yr by the Marlboro Supplier Staff to race for them within the World Superbike occasion at Sugo. A 22-year-old Doohan didn’t fare so properly within the first moist race however made an announcement within the second bout. Doohan recounted the Sugo World Superbike victory to Cycle Information…
Mick Doohan
“I received it, and received it fairly simply. Inside two weeks, Honda was at my door at residence wanting me to signal with them. I received the following race in Australia after which went and examined the Yamaha [GP bike]. Then I signed for Honda once I went to Fuji to do an F1 race. And Yamaha wasn’t too happy. I signed with Honda on a Saturday and needed to race for Yamaha the next day. The whole lot I did in Japan in 1987 and ’88, I couldn’t put a foot fallacious, and that kind of steered me on the trail to go Grand Prix racing.”
Daryl Beattie received races within the All Japan 500 cc Highway Racing Championships in 1992 and recapped a few distinct Sugo reminiscences for us. Daryl has some nice reminiscences from Japan that additionally embody a victory on the Suzuka 8 Hours.
Daryl Beattie on Sugo
“I rode as soon as and solely as soon as, the V4 twin-crank NSR500 at Sugo in a secret take a look at with the manufacturing unit. The Yamaha was a twin-crank, however the Honda was at all times a single-crank. Honda needed to check a twin-crank engine, and we went to Sugo, the place I put about 30 laps on it with the HRC President and a small group of technicians. Then, it disappeared… Sugo was additionally famend for having a few of the best rice in Japan. If you happen to managed to get pole place, they gave you a 5 kg bag of rice; the mechanics could be throughout me for it, because it was like gold to them.”
Kevin Magee was additionally extremely energetic in Japan across the similar time, with loads of miles below his belt at Sugo, to not point out back-to-back victories on the Suzuka 8 Hours for the Horsham Hurricane.
Kevin Magee received the 1987 spherical of the Formulation 1 Bike Championship at Sugo on a YZF750 and likewise claimed podium leads to the TBC (Tohuku Broadcasting System) Massive Race on the circuit on the YZR500.
Magee has some nice tales from Sugo about hot-rodding the Yamaha-supplied golf carts and rolling them, as soon as onto his passenger Warren Keen and one other time onto Aaron Slight… Racing the likes of Pirovano, Goddard, Slight and Phillis from Sendai to Sugo in low-cost automobiles. Using a BW200 up within the hills behind Sugo to heat up his arms correctly earlier than races to assist stave off arm pump. To grabbing the knee of Aaron Slight to assist push himself ahead an inch to beat the Kiwi throughout the road at Sugo…
Sugo additionally performed a pivotal function in shaping the profession of Australia’s most profitable World Superbike racer. Troy Bayliss had his first-ever journey on the Manufacturing unit Ducati World Superbike at Sugo when he was referred to as as much as substitute the injured Carl Fogarty in early 2000. It didn’t precisely go to plan…
Troy Bayliss on Sugo
“My first ever journey on the Ducati World Superbike was there; it was additionally my first time on Michelin rubber. I acquired the decision to switch Carl Fogarty after he was injured, and I didn’t full a single lap in both of the races. Within the first race, I acquired caught up in a turn-one pile-up, and within the second race, Tamada took me out. After that, I believed I might by no means get on that bike once more, and at first, it regarded as if Ducati have been of that opinion. They put Luca Cadalora on it subsequent outing at Donington, which I believed was unusual as I used to be coming from BSB and knew Donington, however anyway, Cadalora didn’t go too properly. So that they put me on the bike at Monza, a observe I didn’t know, however Cadalora did… You’d have imagined it will have been the opposite manner round, however nonetheless, I managed to impress them at Monza (Troy made an unimaginable overtake of 5 riders in a single nook to take the race lead). As they are saying, the remainder is historical past…”
Steve Martin rode World Superbikes at Sugo within the early 2000s, however ten years earlier than that, the South Australian additionally rode a Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750 in F1 trim within the All-Japan Championship when he was 21.
Steve Martin on Sugo
“Again then (1990), it was a frightening circuit. Stuffed with partitions and blind corners, particularly should you weren’t on the correct rubber! If you happen to assume Laguna Seca has some undulation, Sugo is on an entire new stage. I crashed 4 instances in a single weekend there. Fuji Yoshimura put his arms on my shoulders and mentioned Steve, should you crash any extra, we don’t have any extra components left. I believe Yoshimura discovered each photograph of me on that bike and deleted it or erased it from their reminiscence, though Fuji nonetheless likes me… I additionally raced there in World Superbike again within the days when the manufacturing unit Japanese riders had actual Japanese manufacturing unit bikes, and boy, have been they arduous to beat. Ultimately, a superb consequence at Sugo for me was having the ability to depart the circuit with out the Support of a strolling stick!”
Chris Vermulen has some barely extra optimistic reminiscences of Sugo.
Chris Vermeulen on Sugo
“I keep in mind watching races on TV from Sugo as a child, my heroes like Slight, Edwards and Corser, however it was the Japanese wildcards that have been so particular there, Tamada involves thoughts. After I went there racing WSS in 2001 for the primary time, I realised how technical it was and arduous to study with all the blind corners, however if you acquired it proper, it was a terrific observe to journey, an old-fashioned circuit with actual character.”
Adam Fergusson was one other Aussie who acquired to pattern Sugo on World Supersport equipment in 2001, and Krusty additionally acquired to throw a leg over another particular issues whereas in Japan!
Adam Fergusson on Sugo
“Sugo was a type of circuits that you simply both actually loved or hated. I fairly appreciated the place because the format actually suited my fashion of flowing between the corners, and quite a bit much less point-and-shoot fashion. I first lower laps there on the finish of 2000 in a two-day take a look at with HRC, after which raced within the World Supersport Championship at that location in 2001, however sadly crashed out from a superb place. It was a really technical circuit, with a ton of elevation adjustments that basically lent itself to precision using. The floor may very well be a bit sketchy at instances, and I tended to battle a bit exiting the ultimate chicane and navigating the lengthy hill to the end. That was the draw back of being barely larger than the opposition or simply being a fatty, as most would say. Sugo was my first actual expertise coping with HRC, as I assisted with the event of the 2001 Honda CBR600 World Supersport bike alongside Spain’s Pere Riba. They have been clearly proud of my enter, as HRC invited me to Motegi the next week to have a play on just a few of their different bikes. The Castrol Honda VTR1000 SP2 that Colin Edwards piloted, the Suzuka 8 Hour bike, Daijiro Kato’s (RIP) NSR250 and the one that may keep in my reminiscence for all eternity, Alex Criville’s title-winning NSR500V4!”
Because the equipment superior, so did the ability. A significant resurfacing in 2014 refreshed the highway course. The motocross aspect gained a brand new important constructing, with further grandstands arriving in 2017 and 2018. Entry was improved in 2019 with the development of a brand new tunnel from Sendai Airport. Current upgrades proceed to refine the complicated.
Younger Australian Hunter Corney on the grid at Sugo this yr within the second spherical of the 2025 Asia Pacific R3 Cup
Hunter Corney on Sugo
“It was so cool to race at Sugo realizing it was their fiftieth anniversary. It was a tricky weekend, although, due to my first time using at that observe, and it’s a really difficult observe with all the quick sweepers and blind crests. Every Session I discovered extra move and confidence and using there. Jogged my memory precisely why I like this sport and wish to hold pushing for larger alternatives. The observe floor was tremendous clean, using on the again straight by way of the timber felt like using by way of a forest, as a few of these timber have been large after being there a really very long time. The whole lot felt actually clear, skilled and on one other stage. My favorite half was coming as much as and going below the massive Dunlop bridge, as I had ridden below it numerous instances whereas taking part in on my Xbox within the lead-up to the occasion, after which doing it in actual life was fairly surreal. It was straightforward to see why everybody says Sugo is likely one of the greatest tracks in Japan.”
What makes SUGO such a compelling problem is its topography. A fast lap calls for greater than outright pace; it requires technique. The uphill important straight punishes gearing and tyres, whereas the downhill blast on the again straight flows into consecutive corners that reward groups who’ve labored out good mechanical grip and aero steadiness. SUGO is a rider’s and driver’s circuit, the place confidence builds slowly and errors are pricey.
Sugo additionally hosts occasions corresponding to this yr’s ‘My Yamaha Bike Day‘. An occasion that MCNews.com.au was fortunate sufficient to attend and luxuriate in this yr.
Immediately, SUGO stays wholly owned by Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. and operated by SUGO Co., Ltd., with a transparent dedication to the following fifty years: to offer a stage for competitors and a laboratory for enchancment. The subsequent chapter is already underway, that includes new pits, refreshed branding, and smarter operations. One factor that received’t change is the problem of a quick lap across the 3.6km hillside traditional.
The Structure
- Size 3,621m (3,586m with out chicanes)
- Longest straight 704.5m
- Elevation change 69.83m; residence straight 10% gradient.
- Owned 100% by Yamaha Motor; established Could 1975
- Location 6-1 Sugo, Murata-machi, Shibata-gun, Miyagi.
