Notable winner of the Suzuki Alto in 2023 at the breakneck pace

The 2024 season of the Tohoku 660 Championship, a race exclusively for Kei-cars, was held on April 14, and the major topic of the 2023 season was the dramatic increase in the number of participants in Class 4, with the majority of them driving the HA36 Suzuki Alto AGS (2-pedal). The winner of the class, Masaki Inomata, is one to watch for the 2024 season.

Graduated from individual participation to an even higher level

Masaki Inomata, driving a Suzuki Alto, also won the second class (AGS and CVT) of the Tohoku 660/HA36 Cup, which he could enter with the same car, and has become a rising star among AGS users, earning him the respect of even veterans. However, it was not all smooth sailing from the time of his debut. In the beginning, Inomata was almost entirely private, from car fabrication to maintenance, and he even experienced a major crash due to machine trouble.

The man who recruited Inomata as his team’s ace driver was Nobumasa Omori, a representative of the oil and grease manufacturer NEXZAS, who also competes in the team himself. Inomata responded to his request by continuing to produce results in the two categories.

In the 4th class of the Tohoku 660 Championship, Inomata won three of the four rounds, finished second in the remaining round, and won a special round in which he teamed up with Omori. He also won all three rounds of the Tohoku 660/HA36 Cup. It was truly a year to be called “Inomata Year.

Inomata, who is only 27 years old, was born to parents who have made motocross their life’s work, and in high school, he was ranked first in the hammer throw in his prefecture and competed in the Inter-Highs. He competed in the third class with HA23 and only switched to HA36 in 2023. Inomata analyzes AGS without a clutch as “definitely quirky,” but through diligent practice, he is gradually acquiring his unique technique.