Japan: Day 2

Cory Buttrick was clearly the fastest rider in today's 30-minute free practice in preparation for tomorrow's JNCC AAGP race at BigDeer circuit in Hiroshima, Japan.

Japan's top JNCC racer, Takeshi Koikeda, pulled in behind C-Butt at one point in the untimed session and tried to stay with the American KTM rider, however, Buttrick was too fast for Koikeda and he finally dropped off the pace.

Takase Tanaka, a works Kawasaki rider and Japan's number 2 motocrosser, was also in the session, but he was not as fast as Buttrick or Koikeda.

The American GNCC contingent (Cory, Tony Hall, Mackie Delph and Shan Moore) started the day with the usual traditional Japanese breakfast before darting off to the track where

Tony Hall spent most of the day finishing up Cory's bike. There were lots of cool bikes and trucks and haulers to look at while Tony got his work done and in next week's photo report I'll include a lot of photos from the pits - a lot of bikes and a lot of team haulers. Everything is smaller in Japan, including the big rigs, and it was neat seeing the variety of vehicles the different teams use for transporting bikes and tools.

We have to get up early tomorrow (5 am) and we are just now feeling a second surge of jetlag, so we opted out of a big dinner tonight and settled for McDonalds so we could hit the showers and go to bed early.

The Pro race starts at 11:45 tomorrow (Sunday) but we have to be there early because there is a special ceremony where Cory and the other top riders are introduced to the crowed, which I am told will be huge. Tune in tomorrow for all the details.