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Herlings beat Jay Wilson (Yamaha) to the holeshot and established a lead of approximately four seconds on the opening lap alone. Meanwhile, Yuki Okura (Honda Dream Racing Bells), who entered the final round second in the championship standings, 17 points behind Wilson, completed the opening lap in third, just behind Wilson. Okura stayed close to Wilson throughout the early stages of the race.

As the race approached its midpoint, Okura closed the gap to Wilson even further, while a tightly packed group of four or five riders formed behind him. However, at the start of Lap 7, Okura suffered a costly fall, dropping to eighth, approximately three seconds behind the rider in seventh.

After remounting, Okura struggled to regain his pace for several laps, allowing the gap to Yuto Saijo (Kawasaki) ahead of him to grow to around six seconds.

On Lap 10, Haruki Yokoyama (Kawasaki) crashed, promoting Okura to seventh. Okura recovered his pace in the closing stages and caught up to Saijo on the final lap, but fell approximately 0.6 seconds short of passing him, finishing the 14-lap race in seventh. Jiraj Wannalak (Honda HRC Asia) made a difficult start and completed the opening lap in 18th before recovering to finish 13th.

Herlings, meanwhile, took the checkered flag with a lead of approximately 62 seconds over second place, lapping every rider from Wannalak downward.

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Gota Otsuka (T.E.SPORT) beat the world champion in the battle for the holeshot, but Herlings quickly took the lead. Otsuka was then passed by Soya Nakajima (Yamaha) and dropped to third. Herlings immediately pulled away from Nakajima, building a remarkable lead of approximately 7.4 seconds on the opening lap alone.

Okura made a poor start and struggled to gain positions in the closely packed field, completing the opening lap in seventh.

Herlings continued to demonstrate overwhelming speed. By Lap 4, he had extended his advantage to approximately 20 seconds and was running away with the race at a pace that made it seem as though he were competing in a different class.

Meanwhile, Otsuka dropped to fifth on Lap 3, sixth on Lap 4 and seventh on the following lap. Okura, by contrast, climbed to sixth on Lap 3 and fifth on Lap 4, setting his sights on Atsuki Uchida (Kawasaki), who was running almost six seconds ahead.

On Lap 9, Okura overtook Uchida to move into fourth. He then began chasing Nakajima in third, who was approximately 10 seconds ahead. By the final lap, Lap 14, Okura had closed right up to Nakajima but once again fell just 0.6 seconds short of making the pass, finishing fourth.

Otsuka ran within striking distance of fifth place in the closing stages but was unable to gain further positions, eventually finishing seventh.

Herlings delivered another extraordinary performance, lapping every rider from ninth place downward and winning by approximately 74 seconds.

Jeffrey Herlings ⁸⁴

Honda HRC PETRONAS

“This has been a fantastic trip and a great way to finish the season. I’ve competed in a lot of races in 2026, and I’m extremely grateful to everyone at Honda HRC PETRONAS and all the people involved with the team. I’m really happy to have had the opportunity to race in Japan at the end of the season.

“Sportsland SUGO is one of the most beautiful tracks I’ve ever seen, and I can understand why it hosted World Championship races in the past.

“This was also my first visit to Japan, and I was surprised not only by how passionate the fans are, but also by how politely and patiently they waited for me. That’s something you don’t experience very often in other countries.

“Everything here is so clean, and the culture, food and fans are all absolutely fantastic. I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’m already hoping to come back and race here again next year.”

Yuki Okura ¹

Honda Dream Racing Bells

“I went into the races determined to keep pushing as hard as I could and never give up until the end.

“In Heat 1, I was riding with real determination until around the middle of the race, but the bike slipped into neutral in a corner and I crashed. After that, I was trying too hard, made contact with the rider ahead and stalled the engine, which cost me even more time. I managed to catch up toward the end, but I couldn’t quite make the pass.

“In Heat 2, I got a poor start and had a difficult opening lap. By the time I worked my way up to fourth, the two riders ahead were already out of sight. I eventually caught up, but once again I finished just short of making the pass.

“I had the most wins this season, but I narrowly missed out on the championship, which makes this the most frustrating possible outcome. I lost my rhythm in the final two rounds, but that was also part of what made this such a valuable learning experience.

“I’ve learned a lot this year, and I also feel that I have the potential to become an even stronger rider.”

Jiraj Wannalak ²³

Honda HRC Asia

“I injured fingers on both hands at the previous round, and subsequent examinations revealed that I had suffered fractures. As a result, I wasn’t able to ride a bike at all between that race and this final round.

“Even so, I decided that the first thing to do was try riding and then assess the situation. My plan was to take it easy and gradually complete laps, but I think I pushed a little too hard during Heat 1. I went beyond what I could control on the bike and ended up injuring my leg as well.

“Given my physical condition, I decided not to push myself in Heat 2 and retired from the race.

“I wasn’t able to achieve the results I had hoped for, but I’m satisfied that I competed throughout the entire season. I’ll now return to Thailand and focus on doing plenty of training.”

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