suzuka Archives | Inside Motorcycles Magazine

Dan Kruger’s International Race Blog – Endurance Racing: Giving Up is Not an Option

Graeme Jones — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 22:19:26 +0000

When it comes to endurance racing, you never know what you will have to deal with until the checkered flag is out. I have seen pretty much everything, and what I haven’t seen for myself I have heard about from friends or other teams. You can nearly destroy your superbike, rebuild it, and finish in the top five in a 24-hour endurance race. The secret to success? NEVER GIVE UP!

Dan Kruger’s blog: Recovering from a major crash – what most people don’t see, Part II

IM Admin — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 20:27:32 +0000

The long road to recovery: endless doctor appointments, scans, tests, and readjusting life to allow for as much recovery as quickly as possible. With a head injury, the recovery time varies and it is near impossible to predict how long you will be unfit to ride. I spent days and days inside a hyperbaric chamber to increase the oxygen flow in my body and speed up recovery.

Dan Kruger’s blog: Recovering from a major crash – what most people don’t see, Part I

Graeme Jones — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 18:38:52 +0000

By now, most people know I had a serious accident at the Suzuka 8-Hour World Endurance Event in Japan back in July. I high-sided my Superbike coming onto the front straightaway, which was targeted to be my fastest lap ever around the Suzuka Circuit. I was pushing hard and still had a heavy fuel load, with tires that were still not fully up to temp. Although I don’t remember any part of the accident, a photo sequence (see later in the story) along with onboard data allowed my team to piece it all together.

Kruger recovering after Suzuka crash: “I will be back!”

Graeme Jones — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 23:46:30 +0000

Montreal racer Dan Kruger is recovering at his US home in Atlanta following a serious crash during practice for the legendary Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race on July 23 at Japan’s Suzuka circuit. Kruger highsided while racing a GSX-R1000 for a Suzuki-based squad and suffered multiple injuries during the crash, during which he lost consciousness. […]

Canadian Kruger injured in serious crash at Suzuka

Graeme Jones — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 17:33:36 +0000

From Team Penz13.com – The Penz13.com BMW road racer Dan Kruger (Montreal, QC) was set to take part in this year’s 8 hours of Suzuka FIM Endurance World Championship race for another team but has asked his friends of his road racing squad to spread this press release and update on his conditions after crashing […]

Casey Stoner returns to racing in 2015 Suzuka 8hr‏

Wally Nesbitt — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 21:50:11 +0000

Honda Racing Corporation are pleased to announce Casey Stoner’s return to competition racing. The two-time MotoGP Champion (2007 and 2011) will form part of Honda’s MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO three person team at this year’s Suzuka 8hr race, taking place on Sunday 26th July. Casey, together with Honda’s World Superbike rider Michael van der Mark and […]

Dan Kruger’s Racing Blog: Year in Review, Part 1

Graeme Jones — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 00:56:04 +0000

Epic. Mega. Once-in-a-lifetime. A dream year. Call it what you will, but 2014 was on heck of a year for me. In this blog there will be facts, name-dropping, a little bit of bragging, and some cold, hard facts. When someone told me I should start a bucket list, I did. They forget to tell me that I didn’t need to fulfill everything on that list in the first year! It did create quite a busy year for me, but looking back as we see the year coming to an end, all I can say is… wow, mission accomplished!

Dan in Japan: Bringing family to the track

Graeme Jones — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 23:06:38 +0000

I don’t always think everything through. Usually everything works out, which is precisely why I continue to make decisions without really thinking of all the possible outcomes. My wife Holly has been to plenty of my races around the world and, more recently, so has my baby Kaitlyn. Having them at the Isle of Man was critical as you are on the island for two full weeks between practice and racing, so there is a lot of downtime. It is also a very stressful two weeks as the risks are high and bad news is unfortunately common. Being around those that you love is very important. It is a little tougher with the baby, since babies aren’t known for their patience, and race events are known for their delays and questionable weather (especially the TT!).

Dan in Japan (Suzuka blog): Behind the scenes of a big budget race team

Graeme Jones — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 18:28:28 +0000

I have been very fortunate these past few years with the numerous opportunities I have been given. Participating in the Suzuka 8 Hour endurance race was no different. Or was it? No point keeping you in suspense — I will tell you now that it was different in a big way! It was the first event where I really felt the pressure to ride well, be a team player, and always be available for no matter what was asked of me. The fact that I was doing all this racing for the fun of it meant nothing to my team and the many sponsors behind the team. They were doing this full-time and it was their job.

Dan in Japan: Suzuka Blog, Part 1

IM Admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2014 21:25:44 +0000

July was a busy month. First I spent a week in Japan testing for the Suzuka 8 Hour Endurance race. I had a crash, but I also learned the circuit with respectable lap times, came to terms with the challenging Yamaha R1 powerband, and started coming to terms with the special 'Suzuka' Dunlop tires (I use the term started lightly!).

Superbike racer Kruger welcomes baby Kaitlyn

Graeme Jones — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 18:02:22 +0000

Canadian international Superbike racer Dan Kruger may have missed the Suzuka 8 Hours race held this past weekend in Japan, but he had good reason to be home in Montreal.

"Kaitlyn Renee Kruger was born at around 7pm on July 28th weighing in at 7.7 lbs in Montreal," Dan announced. "Both mom Holly and Kaitlyn are healthy and resting and will be home tomorrow."

Dan Kruger’s Racing in China blog: Testing at Suzuka, Part 2!

Graeme Jones — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 04:04:53 +0000

In Part 1 of my 'Testing at Suzuka' story, I told you about the process of getting to the world famous Japanese track and getting prepped by a top notch team to test a top notch machine. Have a quick read of Part 1 if you haven't already, and then dig into Part 2 - the on-track experience...