The uncertainty of who would rise to the top of the first Superbike championship in Japan was only compounded by two wet qualifying sessions at the season opener that left the grid line-up in disarray, followed by a chaotic crash-filled opening to the second round at CP MINE. When order began to form, three riders emerged as contenders: Yamaha's new factory recruit Wataru Yoshikawa, reigning TT-F1 champion Keiichi Kitagawa on a Kawasaki, and Cup Noodle Honda's 20-year-old hotshot Takuma Aoki. For the rest of the year Aoki and Yoshikawa traded wins with Kitagawa clinging on behind. In the penultimate race at Sugo, Yoshikawa was backed up by his Yamaha teammate Yasutomo Nagai who kept Aoki behind him with some ruthless riding tactics (that still had plausible deniability), and Aoki's visible frustration eventually ended in a crash. Though he still had a chance to take the title at Tsukuba, a wrist injury sustained in testing left him weakened and confirmed Yoshikawa as the first All Japan Superbike Champion.