SPOILER
Honda who was in the lead by 50ish seconds was given a 40 sec penalty for a pit lane infraction that should’ve been a stop and go (which probably would’ve incurred a bit more than 40 sec) in the last 15 min of the race. Honda was going for both the 30th victory and also the most laps record which they beat by with 1 lap. Honda owns the track too. Canepa also brought it up publicly in post-race interview which I’m sure the Japanese will frown upon.
Ducati missed the podium because of logistical unforced errors. Bad start had them mired in 10th for the first few laps and then Mizuno, who’s a bit of a prodigy on the V4R, scrapped with the leaders in his first stint it was pretty epic. Until the first pit stop where the V4R wouldn’t start for 10-20 sec. Each stop looked pretty hairy with the rear stand almost getting stuck and dragged as the rider left too early (the pit mechanic had trouble getting the pin out of the spindle). This happened I think 2-3 times. Then they didn’t manage riders as well as the other teams and they neglected to get their fastest rider on the last stint. They got beat by the ancient (but still fast and efficient) SERT gixxer in the last hour.