As usual the previous season's top riders were poached to go world championship racing, and rider re-shuffles at Suzuki and Kawasaki turned most eyes towards Honda's Shin'ichi Ito as the likely title contender for 1998. The brand new Twin Ring Motegi hosted a rocky start to the season which lasted barely 20 seconds before a mass crash brought out the red flag. Ito left the first event with zero points after crashing out of the lead but soon found his stride (a fall in the rain at Suzuka aside) and won 5 of the remaining 8 races to secure the title - his first since winning the All Japan 500cc Championship 8 years earlier. Shin'ya Takeishi matched Ito on qualifying pace for most of the year but failed to score well in the races, and the runner-up spot eventually went to Keiichi Kitagawa thanks to just one non-finish all year.